Escape
by lexilex17
Summary: Follow Bella's cousin, Alexis (and Jasper of course!), through the Twilight series with some fun twists and background added in! Jasper/OC (Could be considered a remake of my previous story, Twilight Plus Two)
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: Hello everyone! So I'm thinking that this may be a Twilight Plus Two (TPT) remake. (If you haven't read Twilight Plus Two don't worry it's not required before reading this story! The characters and everything will be explained! Please excuse my 13-14 year old writing skills if you do read it though...I like to think I've improved since writing that! But maybe not! *shrugs awkwardly*)**

 **Anyway, this story will have the same characters as TPT, but the story line will be a little different and probably a little longer. Instead of just stating the semi major plot changes of the Twilight books that I made to write TPT, I'm going to take you through them in this story. Example: Lexi and Emmett.**

 **This story will eventually get to following the Twilight books (All four of them) but I'm taking out some scenes that I had in TPT, replacing them with different ones, and adding some things that will really make this story different from TPT.**

 **So no one asks why I just didn't take down TPT and rewrite it to make these changes, I'll explain myself: I wanted to leave it up there because some people really enjoyed the original story and might not like the changes I'm making. I would hate to take away a story that people like and might want to reread. It'd irritate and disappoint me if an author completely changed a story I loved without keeping original up for me to read. Also, since this story is different and TPT is a completed story, it'd be so hard to try and add in chapters where they need to go and rearrange things so they make sense. And I didn't want to make a mini story/excerpt because there's too many of them and I'm changing up the story line so it's not exactly the same. I'm going to try not to have a ton of short chapters and instead have very few long ones. Now few might not turn out to be few but I promise to at least make them longer so maybe we can stay under 50! :)**

 **Because it might take me a while to write new chapters, I'll include "previously in Chapter blank.." things so everyone remembers what happened.**

 **Sorry this Authors Note is so long, I promise this will be the longest one! When we get to them I'll include the rest of the plot changes in the Authors Notes so anyone who hasn't read TPT still knows whats going on! Sorry once again, please enjoy the story! :)**

 **So first couple plot changes: For one, vampires can eat. I never understood why the venom couldn't dissolve food...it can penetrate cells but not food?! They can also sleep. Never really understood why they couldn't do that either. These changes are minor I swear, there's going to be no huge changes to the story because of them. Please don't freak out on me :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, it's all Stephanie Meyer's!**

"Are you sure this is it?" I asked Alice as we pulled into a long dirt driveway. As we drove a cream colored three story house came into view.

She smiled over at me, "This is it! Aren't you excited?"

"I think you have enough excitement for the both of us. Maybe try and rein it in a bit...wouldn't wanna scare em."

"I don't have to! I've already seen them taking us in!" Alice squealed and opened up her door practically running to the house.

I lingered behind a little, staring up at the big house. It looked nice on the outside; very well taken care of. Hard to believe a coven of vampires lived in it. Though it was hard to believe that vampires drank animals too, yet here I was drinking them for nearly two years now. Definitely not as good as humans, but at least I couldn't feel the animals pain and fear as I drank them.

Alice waited until I was on the front steps with her before she knocked. Confusion and slight fear seeped from the house. Something told me they weren't used to having visitors no matter how "civilized" they were.

I tugged on the sleeves of my shirt, slightly nervous myself. I knew how badly Alice wanted to be apart of their family. Imagine how awful it'd be if they didn't let her in because of me and my scars that made every vampire on edge with one glance. It doesn't matter how nice Alice says these people are, they'll still look at me the same way everyone else does; with fear.

A woman with long, wavy, caramel brown hair opened the door and looked between Alice and I. She was surprised and I was sure that was because she wasn't expecting vampires on her doorstep.

"Hello, can I help you?" Her voice sounded cautious, though she was trying to hide it.

"Esme! We finally found you!" Alice exclaimed jumping into Esme's arms, pushing her back into the house slightly since she wasn't expecting it. Esme looked at me with pure shock in her golden eyes, her arms frozen at her sides while Alice clung to her for dear life.

A blonde girl came towards us then, coming to check out all the commotion. I stared at her and did a quick check of both of their emotions to be sure that neither of them were hostile. Surprisingly, they weren't. Curiosity and nervousness, mainly from Esme, were all I picked up.

I sighed and tugged on Alice's arm, "Come on, Alice. She doesn't even know you. You're making her nervous."

Alice stepped back and grinned sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm a little excited. I've been waiting my whole life to find you guys. Can I finish coming into your house?"

Esme still looked and felt very confused but agreed nonetheless. She looked back at the blonde girl and shrugged.

Of course Alice waltzed right in and made herself at home on the couch. She wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. I, on the other hand, was very uncomfortable and not because Esme and the other girl were.

I stood on the outskirts of their living room as I watched Alice rub the black couch to see how soft it was. There was no one else in the house but us four. Alice had said that there was four of them total in the family. I wondered where the other two were.

"Have a seat." Esme gestured to the couch as she spoke to me. She rubbed her hands together. A very human thing to do when nervous. Not that she didn't have every right to be. Two complete strangers were in her house. One acting like she'd lived there all her life and the other acting like an intruder.

Everything about this place was wrong. I knew that I shouldn't have come along but I didn't show it, "Thank you."

I moved to sit next to Alice and waited for someone to do something. The awkward pressure in the air was thick, weighing on my chest.

Alice gasped and turned towards Esme, "I completely forgot! I'm sorry! I'm Alice and this is Jasper. Sorry about earlier, like I said I'm very excited. You see, I can see the future and I saw that Jasper and I would end up with your family drinking animals just like you do! When I first became a vampire, one of my very first visions was of your family drinking animals. Ever since then I've been following your lifestyle. It's been difficult, but both of us are trying and willing to keep practicing. Please let us into your family."

"Alice," I stared at her with wide eyes, unable to believe that they'd just decide to let us in because Alice had a vision.

Esme laughed, "Well, we'll have to wait and talk to my husband and son first though I'm sure they won't have any problem with it."

Alice checked the future, "I can't see yet. But I have seen us with you so I'm sure it'll be ok! Edward and I will be great friends, I have seen that!"

"Have you seen everyone in my family?"

"Yes and I know all your names! You're Rosalie," Alice gestured to the blonde girl, "and I've seen Edward and Carlisle."

"What about you," Rosalie asked me, sitting on the couch opposite of Alice and I, "what's your story?"

I glanced at Alice and shrugged not really wanting to repeat my tales of vampire war for fear it hurt Alice's chances of getting into the family, "I'm with Alice."

It became very clear that Rosalie was not going to let it drop at that, "She's your mate?"

"No, we've just been traveling together."

"I met Jasper at a diner. I had a vision that I would meet him there and then we'd find you together." Alice added.

Rosalie nodded, "So you just decided to follow some random vampire to meet some random family that you don't know?"

"She presented an opportunity for a better life so I took it."

"A better life? What do you mean by that? Was your life bad before meeting Alice?"

I was beginning to get annoyed with her prying questions, "Let's just say it wasn't ideal."

"And this is?"

"It's the lesser of two evils."

"Can I move into Edwards room?" Alice interrupted Rosalie and I's tense conversation. I gave her a grateful look, happy that the attention was off of me.

Esme laughed, "Why don't we wait for Carlisle to get home first."

Alice sighed, "But he left the hospital two minutes ago and he's still not here."

"He'll be here soon."

Rosalie smiled an evil looking smile at me, "So back to our conversation..."

"Another time Rosalie." Esme cut her off. Thank the Lord.

As soon as I heard a car pull into the driveway I began sending Alice engulfing waves of calm in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the days earlier situation. I couldn't save Esme, but I could sure try and save her mate.

"I'll go prepare him." Esme said as she headed towards the door. It was probably for the best. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep Alice down. It seemed that for every wave of calm I sent, she radiated a wave of excitement twice as big. How could somethin' so small have so much happiness?

If Esme was talking to him I couldn't hear them. I was trying my hardest to keep Alice in check. The only thing I could see was her short black hair as I focused on sending her more powerful waves of calmness.

Suddenly Alice jumped off of the couch and I gave up sending her calm then, seeing as I'd lost the battle. My eyes met a pair of gold ones that belonged to a man with neat short blond hair that was combed back. I assumed this was Carlisle.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to him, "I tried to keep her calm so she didn't do that."

Carlisle chuckled, "That's alright."

If he was weirded out or nervous at all he didn't show it. In fact he seemed very good-natured about the whole thing. I was a little wary about the way they opened their house to strangers and welcomed us with very little questions or fear. Perhaps they too had seen us coming. But Alice had said nothing about one of them seeing the future like she did.

When Alice released Carlisle she introduced us and went into her tale of her seeing them in her very first visions. She and Carlisle sat on the couch and he listened with immense interest. He asked her questions about her gift and what she remembered of her human life, which was nothing. He was so eager to learn about her that it was frightening. Who would want to know every detail of a strangers life? More importantly, what was he going to do with this information?

Since he was asking her so many questions about her gift it was clear that he didn't have a future seeing vampire as I originally thought. I wasn't exactly sure how to react to this information. It meant that they had never seen us coming. This was good in that they couldn't spy on us, but bad because they acted towards us in such a way that was very unusual for a vampire. I'd never seen a vampire react so calmly to a stranger before, let alone two of them.

"Do you have a gift too?" Carlisle then turned his attention to me.

I looked at Alice unsure of what I should do. I really didn't want him asking twenty questions of me, but I knew Alice would frown upon me lying to him.

Ultimately I decided to try my luck at warding off twenty questions, "Um, I'm an empath. I can read and change people's emotions."

"That's incredible! You know what everyone in this room is feeling?"

I nodded.

Carlisle looked deep in thought for a brief second, "How are you able to change others emotions? What do you do?"

"I just project the emotion I want to them to feel."

"Just like that...incredible. How were you brought into the vampire world," Carlisle leaned forward slightly, glancing at my wrist, which had become exposed, "are those bite marks?"

"Can I move into Edward's room?" Alice interrupted causing Carlisle to focus on her. I immediately pulled my shirt sleeve back down and crossed my arms so my hands were invisible to him.

Carlisle glanced over at Esme, who was staring at me, "Well, I..."

"I've already seen that he'll be ok with it." Alice added.

Esme shrugged, "I guess that would be alright, as long as Edward's fine with it."

Alice jumped up, "Yay! We need to go shopping for somethings for my new room! Rosalie come with me! You need to help me decorate!"

As surprised as Rosalie was she still decided to go with, leaving me with Carlisle and Esme. I followed Alice outside, trying to ask her what she was doing.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine! Get to know them, they're good people." Alice whispered to me before she and Rosalie got in the car and took off down the road.

I watched the car until it was completely out of sight.

"Would you like to come in and sit? How about something to drink or eat?" Esme's voiced sounded behind me.

"I've never tried eating human food, but I'm good. Thank you."

She nodded, "We do have a couple bedrooms already made up, sometimes we have family that visits. Feel free to claim one as your own. You were planning on staying with us, yes?"

Her question threw me off for a moment. I'd never really considered whether I'd stay with them or not. I knew I would go with Alice to meet them, but it was never discussed whether or not I'd stay too. It'd be nice to be surrounded by vampires who drank animals too, as it'd be easier to maintain the diet. However I didn't know these people and something about staying with strangers made me wary. I did travel the country with Alice and she had been a stranger, but there was only one of Alice and I was very confident in my ability to take her down if need be. There was four of the Cullens and I wasn't as certain that I could keep Alice safe while fighting all four of them off. I also had no idea how good they were in combat. What if they were as good as me?

On the other hand, if Alice trusted them then I really didn't have a reason not too. Though Alice's visions have been wrong before. What if they were just playing nice only to turn around to kill us for their own personal enjoyment? Something about the way Esme looked told me that wasn't true, but stranger things have happened.

I hadn't realized that I didn't answer her until I saw her staring at me with a concerned look on her face, "Um, I-I'll probably stay at least for a few days, yes. Thank you again."

"Of course. You're always welcome to stay longer if you wish, too. When we said Alice could stay, we meant that both of you could." Esme gave me a smile that looked genuine and with that she turned around and went back inside, leaving the door slightly ajar.

For a while I stood outside and contemplated going back in. I didn't want to for fear that Carlisle would begin asking questions about my past, but I couldn't just stand out here until Alice got home either. She wouldn't be very happy with me if I decided to do that. She did tell me to get to know them. Maybe I could distract Carlisle by asking him questions instead. That should work.

With a game plan in mind I reentered the house shutting the door behind me. I walked into the living room and noticed a new vampire sitting on the couch where I'd sat minutes ago. My muscles tightened up instinctively and I fought the urge to crouch in a defensive stance.

He stood up immediately and looked at me, holding his hands up slightly in surrender, "It's alright, I'm Edward. I live here."

I nodded to him, attempting to relax a little, "Jasper."

"I know," Edward chuckled with a smile, "I've heard about you and your companion, Alice. I hear you're our new family members."

"Yeah, something like that." I wasn't sure how I felt about him. He was trying to make conversation with me so I'd relax a little more and not feel so tense in my living situation, so he had to be at least semi decent. Despite his appearance, with his messy bronze hair and teenage face, he gave off a very mature vibe. I could respect that.

"Thank you." Edward smiled at me and all my good feelings about him disappeared instantly. I stepped back and narrowed my eyes at him, once again fighting the urge to be defensive, as if I'd never thought about how decent he appeared.

Esme gave him a slightly disappointed look, though she felt no disappointment, only fear for him.

"Sorry," Edward apologized, "I should've warned you before I began responding to your thoughts. I'm a mind reader. I can hear what you're thinking."

I leaned back in surprise, now extremely uncomfortable with him. I hated when people picked me apart with words, but now he was going to pick me apart with no words at all. He was taking the only private place I had. Maybe I wouldn't be staying after all.

"I'm sorry. I try not to read peoples mind I promise. I do try and give my family what privacy I can. You have my word that I'll try very hard to especially not read you mind."

He seemed sincere, which put me at ease but only slightly. I was fully aware he could be just saying that. Besides, why the hell did it seem like he was trying so hard to get me, of all people, to stay?

If he heard my question he didn't respond to it, probably trying to show me how he was keeping his word.

"Nothing gets past you, huh?"

So he was trying to show me that he could keep his word...figures, "Not usually no."

Edward chuckled and moved towards a piano that they had in the corner of the room. Seeing that our conversation was over I sat on the opposite end of the couch from Carlisle hoping that he wouldn't try and ask about my past again.

Carlisle glanced at me but turned back to the book he was reading. Relief quickly washed over me. I leaned my head back and shut my eyes pondering the predicament I seemed to have gotten myself into. Edward's piano playing filled the room while I "thought." In reality I was just sitting in such a position that told everyone I wished not to be disturbed.

I did need to seriously consider whether or not I was staying with them. So far I'd been unable to decide. If nothing else I could just give it a few days and if I didn't like it then I could leave. It's not like they'd force me to stay with them. At least I didn't think so.

I went over the days earlier conversations with Carlisle and Esme. How on Earth were they not afraid of us? Esme was slightly but it didn't last long and she still welcomed us with open arms. And Carlisle, why did he want to know everything and anything about Alice? What was he doing with that information? To any other person that stuff would be off limits. You just didn't ask about a persons past. It wasn't very natural. Was he going to use it against us? I didn't see how he could possibly do that unless he planned on verbally fighting with us.

Edward's piano playing stopped abruptly, "Take a walk with me?"

All three of us, me, Carlisle, and Esme, turned to look at him but he was only staring at me. Perhaps I'd made the wrong decision in trying to stay.

"It's not that. Just come with me."

Normally I wasn't one for following people I didn't know but hell I followed Alice so I might as well follow him too. I got up and he led us out the back yard and to the woods.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked. I certainly hoped he hadn't developed romantic feelings. I did not roll that way.

Edward rolled his eyes, "No. That's not it. I just want you to know that we're not going to hurt you. That's one reason why we drink animals versus humans. We're much more civilized and less violent. Both you and Alice are perfectly safe with us. Carlisle is a doctor at the hospital in town. He's naturally curious about new talents and very eager to learn. He's not using the information against you, he just wants to get to know you. You are going to be living with us."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize you saw the future now." I told him. How the hell did he know if I was going to live with them or not?

"Jasper, that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to help you see that we're not planning to kill you. Not everyone's a bad guy. I heard you thinking about Carlisle and couldn't help it. I just want to make this more comfortable for everyone."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job. If you want to make things more comfortable I suggest you stop reading my mind."

Edward ran his hand through his hair, a very human thing to do, "At least I'm trying! You're just acting all defensive and won't even give us a chance!"

My anger rose, "No you're not. You've been reading my mind since I got here. You haven't even attempted to not read it. And I have every reason to be defensive of you! You guys are four weird vampires who just allow people the don't know to come live with them! Do you know how strange that is? Normal vampires don't do that!"

"Well if you haven't noticed, we're not 'normal' vampires."

"Clearly. So don't get angry with me for not trusting you."

Edward shook his head, "At least lighten up. You're acting like we're diseased. What is your problem?"

"What's my problem? My problem is that some nosy ass vampire is trying to pick me apart with my own mind. My problem is that some pushy ass vampire is trying to get me to tell him and his weird 'family' everything about myself. Maybe I don't want to talk about myself. Why don't you stay out of my business."

I turned then and sprinted in the other direction. I wasn't sure where I was going, I didn't know the area at all, but I had to get away from him.

Alice would be upset with me when she saw me flipping out on Edward but at this point in time I really didn't care. She could go live with them by herself. I'd survived this long on my own and, now that I knew I could drink animal blood, life could possibly be a little better. I could go live with Peter and Charlotte again, but just drink animal blood. It wasn't like Alice was my mate anyway. She was merely someone who'd showed me a better life. Of course I'd always be grateful towards her for showing me this life, but I didn't need Alice to survive. I didn't need any of them to survive.

I ended up sitting in a tree in the woods somewhere. I knew I couldn't go into town. For one, Alice would be there. And for two, I didn't quite trust myself around humans yet. I was getting better, but I was angry and wasn't completely focused. Slipping up was the one thing I did not want to do right now. Hell I didn't even want to come in contact with anyone. I just needed to alone.

And alone time I got for a while. I watched the sun begin to set; the sky fading from blue to pink. The clouds turned from white to pink to orange as they got closer to the sun. It'd been years since I'd watched a sunset.

I wasn't sure how long I was alone until Alice found me.

"Jasper, please come down." Her voice was filled with worry, as were her emotions.

"Go home, Alice."

She sighed, "Jasper, please. Edward's sorry he made you mad and everyone's worried about you. The family-"

"They're not my family Alice. They're your family." I muttered. One day and they were already supposed to be family?

"We don't have to be family, if you don't want," Edward read my freaking mind, again, "sorry, it's hard not to. Listen, I completely understand why you'd be weary of us. I think if I dealt with what you did I'd be weary of others too."

If he dealt with what I did? Alice must've told them about my past. That must've been a good story to hear.

"We all would," Esme spoke up, "what you've experienced is truly awful and it doesn't sound like you've ever really had a place to call home. We want to be that place you can call home. If you want of course, we won't force you into it but just know that our door is always open for you Jasper."

Sadness radiated off of Esme and Alice. Edward was more concerned than anything. Now I was bothering them with my problems. That's always a nice thing to do to strangers. Great job, Jasper. Though it wasn't really my fault. Alice was the one who told them.

The three emotions got more and more distant as the minutes passed. I figured they had let me be. Esme's emotions stuck in my mind for some reason. She was total stranger, yet she'd felt so much sadness for me. Most vampires were afraid when they found out the meaning behind my scars, but she was sad. It threw me off. Could someone really feel that strongly for someone they didn't know? Did other people feel bad for people they didn't know? Why didn't I do that? Had I really become that emotionally detached? Was I really that much of a savage?

"May I?" I glanced up to see Carlisle standing on a different limb, gesturing to the one I was sitting on.

I shrugged at him, "It's a public tree...and you're already up here."

He sat down next to me and sighed, "It's so peaceful up here. I've never noticed before. I usually don't spend much time in trees."

"Yeah, you don't really look like the type." Mentally I rolled my eyes at myself. That was a clever thing to say. Judge the man based on his looks. Wasn't that the same thing I always complained about? Pretty sure it was.

"I'm sorry for my curiosity earlier. I'm always interested in where people come from; their experiences. I love learning things. Possibly to a fault." Carlisle chuckled. He was nervous. But why? I wasn't going to kill him.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I muttered.

His eyes met mine, "Of course not! That's not...I don't know how..."

"Sorry, just over-analyzing your emotions. You were nervous."

"Oh. I see, sorry. I...I worry about people more than I should. Another fault. When I meet someone who's hurt, I can't help but worry for them. I want to help them, to fix their problems."

"I'm something you'd like to fix?"

Carlisle quickly backtracked, "No! No! That's not what I meant. I mean, I want people to be happy and when someone isn't happy I worry about them. I'm like that with everyone. People at the store, people at work, complete strangers, I worry about them all... You've had a hard time, Jasper. We've all had hard times. I just want you to know that, if you want, you are always welcome with us. I know I'm an acquaintance and we don't know each other very well but if you'd be more comfortable here you're always welcome."

"Thank you...I suppose I'll stay for at least tonight. Alice seemed pretty worried."

"Well, we'd be glad to have you as we've all said so many times that I'm sure you're sick of hearing it. I know Alice misses you. And Esme's kind of like me; worries about everyone she meets."

I nodded, "Yeah I got that."

"Shall we? Or if you'd rather wait..." He stood up, pleased that I was coming back.

I shook my head and followed him back to his house. Alice met me at the door and quickly hugged me.

"I knew you'd come home." She whispered sighing. Of course she did. She saw the future.

Relief came at me from multiple directions. Carlisle wasn't lying when he said Esme worried.

"I made you a bed in the room next to Alice's." Esme informed me. I nodded my thanks.

Edward scoffed, "Yeah, Alice's."

Alice giggled, pulling away from me slightly, "Oh Edward you love your new room."

"Yeah...the garage. Great."

I looked down at Alice in shock, "You moved Edward to the garage?"

She just shrugged and smiled, "Oh he likes it. It's only for one night, then we'll move him into one of the spares. Jasper you should see the house. It's very nice."

Alice drug me upstairs and showed me where my room was. It was pretty plain, but I supposed with it being a guest room they didn't really decorate it. There was a king sized bed against the west wall. A dresser and a desk were both on the north one. The closet was on the east, with the door for it right on the corner of the east and south wall. The room itself was painted an extremely light brown, like sand. It almost matched the wood floor, but the floor was slightly darker.

"What am I going to do with a king size bed?" I asked. There was no way I'd use all that bed.

"Sleep in it," Alice gave me a playful shove and shut the door behind me so I had some alone time. I had to admit it was a nice room. Nicer than anything I would've had on my own. I briefly thought of my brother Cooper. I could only imagine what he'd have to say about it.

I could hear him in the back of my head, "Holy shit, Jasper! These people are loaded!"

That was what he used to say when we were still human. Every time we passed by a nice house. Our family was a poor little farm family. Nearly every house had been a nice house to us. Not because we didn't have a house, but because ours was old and small.

I noticed a few bags sitting by the door. Opening them up on the bed I realized they were clothes. Alice.

"You're welcome!" I heard her shout from her room.

"Thank you!" I called back rolling my eyes. That girl loved to shop. If worrying about people was Carlisle and Esme's faults, then over shopping was Alice's.

The next morning I showered and then headed downstairs. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the couch, each with a book in their hand. I didn't know vampires could be so calm. All the vampires I'd met were never calm. But typically when I met vampires they were trying to kill me.

"Alice and Rosalie went hunting." Esme told me glancing up at me as I sat on the other couch.

I nodded at her and sat back closing my eyes.

"Well, what do you think?" Carlisle asked.

I knew what Carlisle was referring to. He wanted to know if I was staying or not. Hope came from both him and Esme as they patiently awaited my answer.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and gave them their response, "Can we paint it blue?"

Esme beamed at me, giving me the biggest wave of happiness I'd felt since Alice was waiting to meet Carlisle, "Of course honey!"

Three months later and Alice and I were still with the Cullens. They had yet to attack us and kill us so I figured we were in the clear. This helped me relax a little. Until I began thinking more and more about my brother. Then I wasn't relaxed. I'd finally found my peace, but what about Cooper? I kept imagining him dying at the hands of Maria. That was the one thing I'd regretted when I left with Peter and Charlotte. I hated the fact that I left Cooper behind.

I stood by the window in the living room one day and watched the world go by. It was times like this that I wished I had something or someone to distract me. Carlisle and Esme were out hunting, Alice and Rosalie were shopping...again, and Edward was reading something on the couch behind me.

I'd retold the Cullen's my story a few weeks after I agreed to stay with them at Carlisle's request, but I left out Cooper. I didn't need them worrying about him too.

Edward, the mind reader who said he'd stay out of my mind, had asked me who Cooper was a few times when I'd thought of him. I never really answered him though. It wasn't like it mattered. Cooper was probably dead anyway. I was sure Maria punished him for me leaving.

"Are you ever going to tell me who that is?" Edward interrupted my thoughts.

I looked over at him and gave him my typical response, "It's no one. Don't worry about it."

"You sending out some pretty sad emotions over no one."

Surprised, I quickly reined in the emotions I had no idea I was sending, "Sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it."

"Who is he?" Edward pried once again.

I sighed and told him, figuring he'd never leave me alone until he knew, "He's my brother. When Peter and Charlotte came back for me I left him there because I knew he wouldn't leave with me without an explanation and I didn't have much time."

"What's his name?"

"Cooper."

Edward nodded and let the subject drop. I stared at him for a few minutes wondering what he was thinking. For once I wished I could read minds.

"Don't tell anyone else." I told him.

His face scrunched up in confusion, "Why not?"

"I don't want them to worry about him. I do enough worrying for all of us, ok? The last thing I need is them bothering me about him too."

Edward shrugged, "Ok."

It was suspicious that he agreed so quickly. Usually Edward was an asshole to deal with about this stuff. I wasn't sure if it was because he was planning something or if it was because it was such a personal subject for me that he really did decide let it go, but I was glad he let it drop. Him not planning something would be an added bonus.

"I mean it." I warned, just in case he was planning something.

"Ok, Jasper." He sounded annoyed that I kept bothering him with it, so I figured he wouldn't plan anything.

Instead of doing nothing I wandered up to Carlisle's library and dug through his books. After finding a history book, I went to my room and decided to try and read to get my mind off of Cooper. Still, part of me wondered about him. Maybe I should go back and at least see if he really is dead?

I shook my head at myself. No, it was better not to know.

The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly, until Edward happened.

"Jasper, come down please!" Esme's voice rang through the house. I couldn't imagine what she wanted me for. Really I'd done nothing...literally. Unless I wasn't supposed to be going through Carlisle's books, which I highly doubted since he'd specifically told me that I could. It was one thing we had in common.

I walked downstairs and saw everyone sitting. We were having a meeting?

"Have a seat." Carlisle motioned to the couch. I sat next to Alice.

"So Jasper, Edward tells us you have a brother." Esme looked at me carefully as she spoke.

My eyes flashed over to Edward, "I told you not to tell them!"

"You're worried about him. We can help." Edward defended himself. This is why I had said Cooper was no one so I could avoid this.

"How? What are you going to do that helps this?"

Esme interjected in our arguing, "Bring him here. If he wants to go back we'll let him, if not he's welcome to stay with us."

I sighed, "I don't even know if he's alive."

"Well you could find out." Rosalie suggested.

I knew I couldn't go back there alone. But I knew that I couldn't take the Cullens with me. They'd never stand a chance. They were too untrained. That much I'd learned during my stay with them. I'd have to get a hold of Peter and Charlotte. Maybe they'd help me convince Cooper to come with me. We'd also have to find a time when Maria was away. That'd be the hard part.

"They're in Montana right now and planning on staying as far as I can see. We'll leave tomorrow and see if they're up for it." Alice rubbed my arm.

"We're not letting you go alone. We're coming with you." Edward protested.

Carlisle nodded, "Of course, we're not letting you go by yourselves. Please tell me that's not what you were thinking. What if she tries to hurt you?"

"Better me than you." I pointed out.

"No," Esme shook her head, "we're family and family goes through things together. We're coming with you whether you like it or not."

Figuring there was no point in arguing, I nodded.

The next morning we got up and headed out for Montana. None of the Cullens had ever met Peter and Charlotte before except Alice so I was a bit worried on how they'd react. I'd already warned them that Peter and Charlotte drank humans, but there was no way to warn Peter that Cullens drank animals. Not that I thought he'd need a warning.

It only took about 4 hours for us to get to Montana, but once we got there we had no idea where to find Peter and Charlotte. They were traveling so it was hard for Alice to get a clear view of where they were. Finally they stopped in a town called Billings. On the way there we stopped to hunt, just to be on the safe side. Then, once we got into town, Alice led the way.

"They're this way!" Alice danced ahead of us, looking back occasionally to be sure we were following. We walked down the road a ways before she suddenly stopped in front of an alley.

"Did you want some?" I heard Peter ask Alice as she watched him feed. She shook her head and looked the opposite direction. The smell of human blood filled the air. I was glad I'd decided to hunt with Edward and Esme earlier.

I nodded at Peter and waited as he finished. He dropped the lifeless body when he was finished and gave me a puzzled look.

"What are you doing here? Couldn't stay away from all this?" Peter ran his hands down his body, wagging his eyebrows at me in a very sexual manner.

"Gross. No, actually I need your help. I need you to come with me and get Cooper."

Peter quit making faces at me, "What the hell do you want that idiot for?"

"Peter he's my brother. I'm not leaving him with Maria."

"Alright alright," Peter sighed, "I'll go find Charlotte, take care of this, and meet you back here."

He picked up the body of the girl he'd fed on and went on his way.

"That had to be one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen." Rosalie muttered breaking the ice.

I was pretty sure we all agreed. Peter was a very outgoing, impulsive, and generally happy person. He liked to have fun especially after he left Maria since there wasn't much fun in anything when we were there. Every once in a while Peter, Cooper, Davey, and Toby, a couple other vampires that they had gotten close too, would sit and joke around, but only if Maria wasn't around. Maria wasn't one for jokes and games.

"What's Cooper like?" Alice asked me.

"He's a lot like Peter, except he's a little more tame. He likes to have fun, joke around, and whatnot but when presented with a task or a serious topic he's the opposite. He'd always get mad at Peter for making jokes when we were trying to train newborns because he felt that training them was something that needed to be taken seriously. He's usually pretty vocal too. If he doesn't like something he's not afraid to say it. Just his opinion in general really, if he has something to say he's going to say it. Cooper's usually not ever speechless."

"So the opposite of you then?" Edward clarified.

I thought for a moment, "Yeah I guess so."

Peter returned a few minutes later with Charlotte and we started on our way to Texas after I introduced everyone. We only stopped once in Colorado to hunt.

"Still doing your new animal only thing?" Peter asked after I finished a deer. Alice and I had explained our new lifestyle to Peter and Charlotte before we found the Cullens. They didn't seem to quite understand why we did it, but they didn't say anything about it.

I nodded at him, "What does it look like?"

Peter shrugged, "I dunno. I guess so, eh? You seem to like it more than humans."

"It doesn't taste better than humans but I don't feel their pain and suffering so in the end it's better."

He just nodded. He'd never felt the painful emotions that went with hunting. Therefore he'd never know what I was talking about. Yes Peter could try and understand but he never _really_ knew.

"Do you actually think Cooper's gonna come with you?"

It was my turn to shrug. I'd thought about this multiple times in the past couple days, "I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know if he's even alive. If he is I like to think he'd come with, simply because it's an opportunity to get away from Maria. I'm sure with us gone she's made him her puppet. But to be honest I'm not sure. I at least have to try. If he chooses to stay with her then I'll leave him alone."

Peter didn't say anything. We waited for the rest of the family to finish hunting before we left again. The run was very uneventful. Unfortunately running wasn't a thinking activity so I was left to my thoughts.

I wasn't exactly sure if Maria had moved camp or not. It was entirely possible that, as she gained new territory, she moved camps to have better control of the territory. She'd done that a few times when I had been with her. It wasn't uncommon. Many vampire covens did so as well. We'd learned that the hard way more than once.

Once we hit Texas we made plans. Only Peter and I would get close to the camp should things take a turn for the worst. The family, as well as Charlotte, would stay back about a mile or so. If we got Cooper to come talk to us we'd take him back to around where the family was so it was a little more private. If he refused I wouldn't push him.

I was uneasy about heading back to the camp. Not that I was afraid of Cooper, but I wasn't sure how Maria would act should she be there. Surely Maria had to have some sort of resentment towards me and maybe even Peter. The last thing I wanted was a fight. And not just because I knew we'd die in one.

We stopped a little more than a mile away from where camp used to be.

"This is where I leave you." Peter told Charlotte giving her hand a gentle squeeze. Charlotte oozed fear and worry. I sent her a small boost of confidence to try and ease her worry some, but it only worked as long as I sent it.

The rest of the family was slightly nervous, but not terribly so. They didn't know Maria. They didn't know what could happen should Maria react badly to seeing me. Hopefully she wasn't there at all.

"Be careful." Esme whispered to me after a short silence.

I nodded to her then looked at Peter, "Ready?"

He released Charlotte's hand and moved closer to me.

"If we're not back in a half hour, run. They'll be looking for more of us." I warned the rest of them.

Peter and I turned then and ran through the woods to where the camp used to be. It was pitch black outside, our only light being the moonlight. As we approached the camp, which thankfully hadn't moved, we slowed slightly.

"Who are you?" A male vampire shouted at us.

We both turned to the sound of his voice. A watchman. That was something we had not had when I was still around.

"Where's Maria?" I asked.

"She's away hunting."

Peter smiled at me. This was good news, but we couldn't let our guard down.

"Is Cooper around?"

The male nodded while the uneasiness from him thickened. I did nothing to stop it.

"I need to speak with Cooper." I told him then muttered to Peter, "stay here. I'll be go get Cooper."

I crossed the lawn to the edge of the old abandoned barn. Nothing much had changed about it except the fact that the paint was more worn and faded than it had been. Sticking my head through the door I saw Cooper standing on the wall to my left, watching the newborns train.

"Still standing around Cooper?" I smirked. Nice to know nothing changed.

His head whipped around to stare at me, his bright red eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here?"

"Come with me and I'll explain."

Cooper scoffed, "How can I trust you'll bring me back?"

"I brought you back the night you were changed didn't I? Are you coming or not?"

His face relaxed a little and after a glance towards whoever was training the newborns, he followed me outside and to Peter.

The guard immediately looked at Cooper when he saw him. He was terribly untrained.

"It's ok, Frank. I'll be back shortly." Cooper reassured him before following me and Peter back to where the rest of our group was. With any luck, Cooper wouldn't come back at all.

We stopped a few yards shy of where we left them, as we planned, so we could talk to him.

"Why did you bring me out here," Cooper demanded. "what the hell are you even doing here? If Maria finds out you're here she'll kill you. She was pissed when you left."

"Relax. Maria won't find us here. I have a proposal for you."

He scoffed, "Jasper I'm flattered but your my brother."

Peter chuckled next to me. I sent him a glare.

"That's not what I meant. Look, the world isn't all blood and war like we thought. In the north things are much more civilized. There aren't vampires trying to kill you, there aren't training sessions with newborns, it's just vampires roaming the earth. It's peaceful and a hell of a lot better than that hell."

"Yeah," Peter joked, "and if you want you can even go vegetarian and be a doctor."

I smacked Peter on the arm and explained, "I met a coven who survive on animal blood. The...coven leader if you will, is a doctor. He works with humans all day and resists his blood lust because he's drank animals for so long."

"Is that what you do? Is that why your eyes are a screwed up color?"

"Yeah...sure. It's better for me than drinking humans. I don't have to feel the humans pain."

Cooper scoffed, "So because you've found peace and joy in animals means I have to? Who ever said I even wanted to leave this? Unlike you, I don't turn my back on the ones who've helped me."

"I didn't say you had to come with me. It's an offer. You don't have to drink animals. Hell, roam around with Peter and Charlotte for all I care! I just didn't want you to have to live that way if you didn't want to."

"I think I can take care of myself."

This was a bad idea, "Never said you couldn't. I'm just asking if you want to get away from the fighting."

Alice came through the trees and made herself present, "I think you're misunderstanding what Jasper's trying to explain."

Cooper's full attention was on Alice as she restated what I'd been trying to convey to him. He never argued with her as he did me, in fact he just nodded and seemed genuinely interested.

"So you'll listen nicely to her, but you'll argue with everything I was trying to say?" I questioned him when Alice was done talking.

"Shut up, Jasper," Cooper blew me off and turned his attention back to Alice, "I think I'd like to try your way of living. It sounds a lot more peaceful than what I'm in now."

I gaped at him, slightly frustrated, "But when I explained it you wanted no part of it?"

Cooper shushed me and took Alice's hand as she led him to meet the family. It was then as they held hands that I felt it. Love, admiration, happiness...Cooper had found his mate.

"I think he likes her." Peter stated as he, too, watched them disappear in the trees.

"They're mates. It's the exact same emotions that come off of you and Charlotte." I explained following my brother. No wonder why he was so interested in her speech.

Alice had introduced them already and Esme and Carlisle seemed thrilled that he was coming back with us. Excitement and joy radiated from them.

"We should get going before Maria comes back. I don't want her to follow us...Jasper and Peter aren't exactly her favorite people." Cooper explained when were all together.

Carlisle nodded in understanding, "We should get going then."

"We should split up," Peter spoke up, "that way if she does decide to follow us, it'll be harder to locate us. She'll have to choose between me and Major."

"That won't be a hard decision for her. She'd much rather have Jasper's head than yours." Cooper pointed out, still holding Alice's hand.

"Either way we need to get moving."

"How about this," I formulated a plan, "why don't Peter, Charlotte, and I go west and take a long back and forth route around the area eventually heading up to Colorado. You guys can just head straight there. That way she'll think we split up. With us running back and forth around here will confuse them as to which direction we really went. She won't want to travel every single route, especially with most of them heading back to the same area. The chances of her picking the correct route will be pretty slim. Besides, by the time she realizes Cooper is gone and that I was there with him our scents will be pretty scattered from the wind."

Peter shrugged, "Well that's better than anything I got. It's worth a shot."

"That could work." Cooper agreed.

"We should probably hunt along the way." Alice murmured as she rubbed Cooper's arm. I figured she wanted to expose Cooper to animal blood as soon as possible.

Rosalie was growing impatient, "Well let's get going then."

"Alright, we'll meet in the same town that we stopped to hunt at on the way down."

We all agreed and headed our separate ways.

The run was silent, as usual. Peter and Charlotte followed me around the area for a while before we eventually went to Colorado. I hoped our circles, combined with the wind, would be enough to confuse Maria. Either that, or I hoped that she didn't care enough to follow us. I figured that the second one would be unrealistic so I was really hoping the plan worked.

The Cullen's were hunting in the exact same woods where we'd stopped to hunt on the way down. Carlisle and Alice were trying to explain how to hunt to Cooper. It was basically the same idea as hunting humans, but it felt odd since it wasn't a human. The hardest part was trying to convince yourself that animal blood was good so you could get into a "hunting mode" so to speak.

"How the hell do you do this?" Cooper asked when he saw me.

I rose an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean? You run after it, you catch it, you bite it, you drink it. It's easy."

"But how do you mentally make yourself not disgusted? The doing it is easy, the not puking is hard."

Carlisle chuckled and shook his head, "That's a new one. I've heard the unappetizing, I've heard the not as good as human blood, but I've never heard the 'It makes me want to puke.'"

"No offense, it's probably cause I'm not used to it." Cooper muttered.

"You do get used to it. Once you do it so long you kind of forget what human blood tastes like it gets better." I agreed with him.

Cooper looked to Carlisle for confirmation, "Is it true?"

Carlisle hesitated for a moment, "I'm not sure. I've never actually drank human blood."

"Never?" Cooper stared at him completely amazed. It was very rare that someone had never had human blood before. Carlisle was the only one I'd met who could say such a thing.

"Never."

Cooper shook his head at Carlisle, most likely believing that he was crazy. Suddenly his face changed from shocked to devious, "So Jasper I've been meaning to talk to you. You must've been pretty worried about me to come get me."

"No. Actually I was hoping that Maria killed you so I could come and dance on your grave."

"Really? That's not what Edward told me. So tell me again when you bought your first bra and panty set? Was it after you met the Cullen's or before?"

I rolled my eyes, "Screw you, Cooper. How the hell would you know if I bought a set? Digging through my dresser? Need to borrow some? I'm sure Rosalie or Alice have some you could borrow."

Carlisle chuckled at our banter, "So, how did you two get so lucky as to be changed together?"

There he went again with the questions, though I didn't really mind this one, "It wasn't that special. I was out hunting one day with Maria and I saw him. I recognized him immediately. Some more newborns where also hunting in the area and were going to kill him. I stopped them and brought Cooper to Maria and requested that he be changed, making up some lie about how I thought he'd be an asset."

"Oh screw you," Cooper shoved me, "I was an asset and you know it."

"Like I said, 'Still standing around Cooper?'"

"Shut up, that was my job. To watch. I had to make sure that no one got out of line."

I rolled my eyes, "Anyway, she agreed to change him and I spent the rest of my time covering his ass to make sure she didn't kill him."

"You make me sound like such a trouble-making pain in the ass. I'm promise I'm not as bad as he makes it sound."

"I'm sure." Carlisle laughed.

Peter gave him a nudge, "That's right you got a woman to keep you in line now."

Cooper chuckled, his humor quickly turned to embarrassment but there was an underlying joy and love, "I don't need someone to keep me in line. I make the line."

"Hear that Alice?" Peter shouted and pointed at Cooper. Alice simply rolled her eyes and laughed.

Cooper took to the life of animal blood surprisingly quick. Of course he slipped up a few times, which resulted in us moving, but Carlisle said it was to be expected. I, too, had slipped up when I first began. Though I'd tried to practice control after leaving Peter and Charlotte it had never worked out for long periods of time.

The Cullen's were surprisingly understanding and accepting when dealing with slip-ups. Much more so than I had expected them to be. As the years went on both Cooper and I had gotten better with our self control. Carlisle had been right, it just took some practice.

* * *

"I'm not sure what to do. They have everything else set up, they just need my answer."

She paused in thought on the other end of the phone, "Well ultimately the decision is yours. I think you should do it. How many vampires get the opportunity to do that?"

"I know. I just...what if something goes wrong? What if she gets hurt?"

"I think everything will be fine. Trust in your abilities as a doctor. I know you can handle anything that might come up throughout this. Either way, which ever you choose, you know that we'll support you. But it's a good opportunity."

"I know," I sighed deeply, "trust me I know."


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: No 'previously in last chapter' on this one, since the last chapter doesn't really flow with this chapter anyway. We're changing point of view, which you'll see, and we're jumping ahead in time.**

 **Also another change: Emmett was not changed in 1935.**

 **And for anyone wondering (though I'm sure you figured it out), the last part was not from Jasper's point of view. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Twilight.**

"Agent Oliver, please report to room 201A. Agent Oliver to room 201A." I heard the secretary call me over the intercom. I couldn't help but grin. It was that time of the month!

I nodded to my training instructor as we met eyes and I quickly left the training room. Walking as fast as I could, I took a left out of the doors and pushed the up button of the elevator multiple times, as if it would make the elevator come faster. As soon as I stepped through the door my fingers were on the level two button. Before I pushed it I double checked to make sure I wasn't pushing the basement level two button. That often happened to new agents. They would forget what the "B" before the number meant. Though I wasn't a new agent by any means, it still never hurt to check.

My hands tapped my leg impatiently. I had already gotten out of the rest of the days activities by being called down to room 201A, but I didn't care about that. I was looking forward to something much greater.

The elevator dinged and opened its doors. My legs wrongfully sprinted down the hall to room 201A. I flashed my badge to the computerized lock and bounced on my toes as it opened and revealed the man I'd been waiting all month to see.

"Did you get it?!" I practically yelled as Carlisle drug me into the room, covering my mouth.

He watched the door close before speaking, "We are meeting with them this Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning."

Shock ran through my body, even though I'd been praying for this news for a month. I stood in front of him my mouth in a gaping smile that probably looked really stupid. Finally I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could, "Carlisle, you're a miracle worker!"

"Just doing what's best for you." He replied casually, as if he wasn't about to attempt something that was virtually unheard of in the Agency. He acted as if what he was doing was no big deal when in reality what he was doing was going to change my life forever.

I released him and turned around, "Carlisle if this works I'll finally be free! No more waking up feeling like I've been hit by a bus, no more training sessions, no more missions! I'll be a kid just like everyone else. Then I can ice skate!"

Carlisle laughed at my proclamation, he knew how badly I wanted to ice skate.

One of the older agents had snuck a magazine in after she went to visit her family for a week. There was a beautiful blonde haired girl wearing a light blue dress while she skated on the ice. She looked so elegant, so graceful, and so stunning. Her face said it all; she was having the time of her life. I wanted so badly to try it. I wanted to be the carefree girl who could ice skate. But first I had to get out of the Agency.

"Now before you get your hopes too high, like that hasn't already occurred, you realize that just because they've agreed to hear our case doesn't mean that they'll let you go. Most likely they'll offer you a deal."

I turned around to face him again, "What do you mean?"

"They're probably not just going to let you out of the Agency. That doesn't happen, especially with someone like you who knows an awful lot about them. So instead they might make you a deal. Something like they'll let you out for a certain number of days a month, or a certain number of weeks a year. Obviously our goal is to get you out for as long as possible, but we have to take what we can get."

My heart sunk slightly as reality came crashing down on me, "What happens if they don't let me out at all?"

Carlisle squeezed my arm and gave me an encouraging smile, trying to rebuild my confidence, "Then we'll keep fighting."

I could see the sincerity in his bright golden eyes. Really I had no reason not to trust him, Carlisle had been with me from the beginning. Literally.

He was the one who'd delivered me, still in med school, when my mother went into labor at night and the other delivery doctor was unavailable. He was also then the one who'd become my primary doctor when I came into the Agency.

Joining the Agency was not something I had a say in. In fact, when I joined the Agency I couldn't talk at all. I was in a coma and on full life support. Machines kept my heart beating and my lungs breathing.

When I was two years old, I was riding with my Aunt Tracey in the backseat to go visit my father in the hospital after he'd fell off our roof while hanging Christmas lights. My mom and my siblings were already up there, but I had come later because I had been visiting my cousins when my dad fell and my mom didn't have time to come get me so my Aunt just offered to bring me up there. On the way, we had to slam on the brakes due to someone stopping in front of us. A semi truck who'd been following us pressed his brakes but due to ice on the road he slid into our car.

The whole back half of my skull was crushed. An MRI showed that over half of my brain was completely dead. My parents were going to pull the plug on me, seeing as I'd never be able to survive on my own, until the Director of the Agency, Mr. Hubbard, came to them and offered them a possible solution. Scientists at the Agency had been working on a machine that could act as the missing parts of the brain for people with brain damage. They had a completed machine that they'd been waiting to test on someone. Since my mother was already apart of the Agency I was the clear choice for them. the person they tested their machine on. Mr. Hubbard asked my parents if they'd let me be the person they tested their machine on. If the machine worked, then they would get to use me as an agent. If the machine failed I would die, but seeing was going to die anyway, my parents agreed.

The procedure took 16 hours to complete, being as extensive as it was. They kept the life support machines running just in case it failed or took time to work properly. I lived through the first two hours, then six, then twelve, then twenty-four, with no complications. But after twenty-seven hours of life, I required emergency surgery to replace a part of the machine that wasn't responding to the rest of it, causing me to have seizures. After they replaced it, I was good as new. You'd never know that I had half of a computer brain.

The Agency was very pleased with this. Not only did their machine work, but now they had a super capable human. As soon as I was stable, they began their work. Different types of therapists came in and worked with me on movement, speech, and relearning things such as names of things, names of people, etc. I had an extremely difficult time talking in the beginning, but that was the only thing I struggled with. I had quickly remembered my mother, my father, my siblings, and of course "Carlel (Carlisle)." My new brain soaked up information like a sponge, allowing me to do things that normal kids wouldn't be able to do until they were older.

I'd been in the Agency ever since training and fighting. Learning to be an agent until I was old enough to actually go out and fight. The Agency made me a lethal weapon. They tested out ways to give humans supernatural gifts. Once they were perfected, they injected them into me. At first they were weak, but as I used them they grew stronger. Currently I had 7 gifts, if you counted controlling the elements as one whole gift.

My first mission was when I was nine years old. Though I was only nine, I had the mindset of a full grown, mature adult. This helped the Agency even more because my skills were much more refined than those in my age group. To keep order in the Agency the Directors split us up by age. I was in the 8-9 year old category, since I was nine, but I was performing at a 16-17 level. The older Agents were upset by my increased learning ability. I understood their anger towards me. All of them had worked so hard to be able to earn their place on a mission team, but yet the Agency gave many spots to someone almost half their age: me. It made for some awkward missions.

A few months ago, one of the Agents had lashed out at me, telling me how undeserving I was to be on the mission team. He had gotten a few Agents together, forming a group of four, to attack me. I'd held them all off until the Staff Sergeant could come break it up. All four of them got probation. I told Carlisle about the incident the next time I'd seen him, as he was there to record my overall well-being. Needless to say he wasn't very impressed. I'd been telling him about my desire to go home for a while, but I believe that was the event that pushed him over. Now, hopefully, Carlisle was coming to rescue me. We had our appointment with the Agency Board of Directors set up. The only thing left to do was convince them to let me go free.

"Carlisle," I called his name, suddenly pulling myself from my memories as I thought of a question to ask.

"Yes my dear?" His golden eyes moved from his clipboard to me instantly. I'd always wondered how someone got golden eyes, but I had never had the courage to ask Carlisle for fear that he'd be offended or angry. Not that I had thought Carlisle would ever be mad at me, but I'd have hated to be rude.

Bouncing my thoughts back to our appointment, I asked him the question I'd pondered recently, "How are you going to convince the Agency to let me go?"

Carlisle smiled a small, simple little smile, "Don't you worry my dear. Don't you worry."

Instead of following his directions, I had let the thought bother me until I climbed up on the small twin sized cot/bed in the room and laid down. This was our normal routine. Every time Carlisle would come to visit I'd give him a brief summary of how I was, then I'd crawl into the bed and sleep. Training and fighting everyday from 5 A.M to 7 P.M, with only 3 one hour breaks took its toll on my young body. It certainly made me appreciate the days I could spend with Carlisle.

While I was asleep he'd pull my vitals that my brain had collected from the previous month. I wasn't sure what he did with them after he received them because I was sleeping, but he'd told me that the Agency required him to take my vitals once a month. Probably to make sure the back half of my brain was still functioning properly.

After a few minutes of laying down, my eyes finally felt heavy enough to stay closed. Carlisle woke me up at noon like he always did so I could eat lunch. Lunch was never that great. It was usually processed food. My friends and I always joked that their chicken or burgers were actually fried bat or kangaroo. Of course they probably weren't, but we never really knew.

When lunch had come and gone, sleep came back to me until almost dinner time. I hated dinner time as it meant I only had a few more hours with Carlisle. But I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about supper that day. I was excited for Thursday to come and for Thursday to come that meant Tuesday had to be over. I wished I could've just spent Wednesday with Carlisle as well. That would've made my week even better.

Unfortunately, I had to say good-bye to Carlisle after dinner. At 6:30 an Agent would come retrieve me so they made sure that I wasn't stolen. They were very careful about outside visitors. I wondered if the Agency would even let me see Carlisle again should they reject my request to be released. Part of me doubted it. They'd be too afraid he'd just leave with me. I didn't think Carlisle would actually just take me; there's no way he'd make it out of there alive.

Thursday morning I awoke at 5 o'clock just like any other day. But it wasn't any other day.

Right away in the morning there's fight training, which was my favorite and it was certainly a good way to wake me up in the morning. Sometimes we'd learn new moves to practice, but mostly we worked on perfecting the ones we'd already learned. Since I was more advanced than my peers who were the same age I got to do my fight training with the 16-17 year old age group. It had been weird training with them at first since I was so much smaller but their training coach, Sergeant Williams, insisted that I learn because I wouldn't be fighting someone as little as me during actual missions.

Fight training was already dull that day because we were reviewing last weeks material, but since I was anxiously awaiting 8 o'clock it seemed to drag by even slower. Carlisle always said a watched clock never turned so I tried my very best to distract myself from the clock by focusing on Sergeant Williams. It was much harder than it sounds. I wished we were learning something new so I could have something force my mind to think about. We all took turns performing the move dry on Sergeant Williams and then we were asked to use it in an "actual fight" against him. Neither of those were particularly hard. It was time consuming though having twelve people fight, especially because most of them lasted about 4-5 minutes each.

Breakfast came at 6:30 sharp. I loved hearing that bell, which also signaled the end of the first training session. Not all age groups had fight training right away in the morning. If they did that it would be too many kids in one area. Typically the oldest three groups went right away in the morning and as the day went on the ages decreased. Anyone under the age of five didn't have fight training, not that there were many kids under five. Most children who were in the Agency under five had parents in the Agency, but because they were there the Agency accommodated. But realistically, almost everyone in the Agency had parents in the Agency. Those who didn't were called outsiders. You could always tell who an outsider was by the way they acted. They typically weren't in the Agency as long as those with parents in the Agency so they were usually less skilled.

We got approximately one hour for breakfast and then it was back to training. Most kids didn't need one hour to eat but it was nice to have an extended break and rest period so kids weren't puking during training.

After fight training I had strength training which was basically weight lifting. Typically it went for an hour but I got out early.

Out of all the training sessions I had, strength training had to be the worst. I was back with my peers for this training. We all thought it was pretty boring since we couldn't lift much weight and we weren't allowed to do many reps for fear that we pull muscles. Not doing many reps led to more rest time though, so it worked out well usually. But today wasn't a usual day.

In between reps I'd stare up at the clock and beg it to move. I could just picture the meeting in my head. Carlisle would present his amazing case for letting me out and then they sit and ponder it for a while and they'd all agree that letting me out was the best thing and then I could go ice skating! My hands twitched in excitement. I felt like jumping up and down and doing jumping jacks. But instead I was forced to keep pumping iron.

At 7:51 I saw Carlisle walk into the weight room and talk to the trainer. I put my weights away as fast as I dared before walking over to Carlisle.

"Ready to go?" He asked smiling down at my shaking form. I noticed he was carrying a brief case. I'd never seen Carlisle with a brief case before, only a computer and a clipboard.

I nodded quickly, "Of course I am! I've been waiting for this all day. The clock couldn't move fast enough."

"A watched clock-"

"Never turns." I finished for him, having heard the phrase so many times before.

Carlisle chuckled to himself. We walked down towards the elevator, as the weight room was on Basement floor number one. I'd never been to the Panel room before so I hoped Carlisle knew where he was going and wasn't relying on me to guide him. Once we got to the elevator Carlisle pushed 3A.

I rose my eyebrows in surprise, "We're going to the third floor?!"

"That's where the Panel is."

I'd never been on the third floor before, the highest I'd gone was level two and that was only to visit Carlisle.

Level two A contained visiting rooms along with offices. Level one A was the lunch room, the Case room which held all the previous cases we'd completed, some Conference rooms, and the Meeting room which was where the Mission teams went when they were being told their Missions. Basement level one had all of the training rooms, locker rooms, and the security control room. Basement level two had all the rooms where the Agents slept. The last floor, Basement level three held our Armory, vehicle storage, the Testing room where scientists worked on new equipment, the infirmary, and all other storage rooms. In the elevator, all rooms above ground where "Level blank A" and all rooms underground were "Level blank B."

We stopped right outside the Panel room. There was the normal security system where you had to flash your badge but on top they had a clock. The clock read 7:54.

"We're a little early," Carlisle stated, bending down so he was eye level with me, "I did that on purpose because I need to tell you some things. First of all, and I'm sure you already knew this, but no matter what the outcome we have to keep cool, okay? Even if they decide not to let you out again we can't panic. We can always appeal the case. Secondly, I wanted to tell you a little bit about what's going to happen in there. We're going to present our case to them, which is why you need to be released from the Agency. Afterwards they're going to ask questions and potentially argue back their side of it. That will go on for a while, us going back and forth with them, until they decide to meet and decide if they agree or disagree with us. When they've made a decision they'll come back to us and they'll either tell us that you're free, tell us you're staying, or make us a deal. Remember, if they say you have to stay we can always appeal the case and try again to prove our point ok? But no matter what I need you to stay calm. I might not be calm and I might yell a little, but you should just stay calm and just watch. Unless they ask you your opinion or unless they ask you to demonstrate something you can just sit and watch."

I took a deep breath and wiped my hands, suddenly nervous, "Ok."

He smiled at me and squeezed my shoulders, "Everything will be ok. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Not getting out of here."

"That's not something to fear, that's something to fight. And we will fight it," His eyes glanced up at the clock and then back to my face, "in two minutes."

"One minute," I corrected as I watched the fifty-eight turn into a fifty-nine.

Carlisle rolled his eyes, "Fine, smarty pants, one minute."

That one minute had to be the longest one minute of my life. We both stood waiting for the clock to strike eight. The Panel apparently didn't accept early cases. I tried counting the seconds but figured I had to be off since I didn't start right away anyway so I gave that up.

Finally, as soon as the clock turned to eight Carlisle flashed his badge and the light turned green to unlock the door. He held it open for me and ushered me inside.

The Panel room was a medium sized room that was very brightly lit, but very empty. A table with two chairs sat in the middle of the room facing the Panel. The Panel sat at a very high, horseshoe shaped desk. I saw their name tags and everything from the shoulder up, but I was too short to see much else.

There were three men on the Panel and two women. Mr. Hubbard sat in the middle since he was the Director of the Agency, his two Deputy Directors sat on either side of him, Mr. Grangell and Ms. Marshall. Then Mr. Ramsey sat on the very left side next to Ms. Marshall and Ms. Arnesen sat next to Mr. Grangell. According to their name tags, Mr. Ramsey was a Agent Resources Director and Ms. Arnesen was a Chief of Staff. I didn't quite know what Deputy Director or Chief of Staff was but I figured it must be important if they were on the Panel.

Carlisle set his briefcase on the table and stood between the chair and the table. I copied his movements, except for putting the briefcase on the table because I didn't have a briefcase.

"Good Morning, Dr. Cullen, Agent Oliver." Mr. Hubbard greeted us. It was weird hearing someone call Carlisle Dr. Cullen. My mother had accidentally called Carlisle by his first name in front of me when I had just turned two and the name stuck ever since. I'd never called him anything but Carlisle my whole life.

"Good Morning." Carlisle and I repeated at the same time. I smiled up at Carlisle, but he didn't seem to notice.

Mr. Hubbard smiled at us, "What can we do for you today?"

Carlisle motioned for me to sit down as he got something out of his briefcase, "We have a proposal, if you will, for you."

Once he'd found the papers he was looking for he walked around the table and handed the papers up to Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard put his glasses on and read through the first page. As he did so Carlisle came back to stand by me.

"You're looking to take Agent Oliver out of the Agency?" Mr. Hubbard asked when he finished reading whatever Carlisle gave him.

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Grangell laughed, a dry hoarse laugh, "Dr. Cullen are you out of your mind? She's our best Agent. She's our greatest accomplishment."

"I'm not out of my mind, Mr. Grangell, but she will be if she continues on the way she is."

"How so?"

"I've been visiting Agent Oliver once a month, at your request, for about seven and half years now. At first her energy levels were very well and her vital signs were perfect. But now, she has absolutely no energy and her vitals are climbing."

"No energy," Mr. Ramsey scoffed, "Dr. Cullen we allow our Agents to sleep for nine hours every night."

"And then you work them all day. Even with your three hour breaks every day you are working her eleven hours a day. That's too much work for a child her age. Her brain growth is off the charts for her age group but she's still a child. Her body is still growing, four percent slower than before due to fatigue. Do you know what Agent Oliver does when she's with me one month out of the year? I see her at eight that morning and as soon as we cover the basics of how she's doing she sleeps. She sleeps until lunch, when she wakes and eats, and then she sleeps until around five. That's eight hours of sleep she gets when she's with me and then she's still tired enough to go to bed with the rest of the Agents at eight. Please tell me how you believe that's normal."

"That's not normal," Mr. Grangell admitted, "but I don't think that constitutes her leaving the Agency. I think that's a matter of changing her training schedule. Isn't that right Mr. Ramsey?"

Mr. Ramsey nodded.

Carlisle scoffed, "So you can isolate her from her peers?"

"It's better than no training at all!"

"What on Earth could you possibly be teaching her? She's been in training for seven and a half years. What else does she have to learn?"

Mr. Ramsey shook his head, "An Agent is never done learning Dr. Cullen. There are always new skills and new discoveries to make. We're still working on new developments in gifts for her. It's like medicine, as new issues come up, you can work to fix them. As new weapons arrive and new fighting techniques develop, we can develop counter attacks for those so our Agents are prepared."

"What more gifts does she possibly need? Haven't you tortured the poor girl enough? She almost died the last time you gave her a 'gift.' Besides in medicine you don't start working on those counter-developments until after the new issue has arrived. How are you training her to fight a style that doesn't exist yet?"

"We're not. We're still working on the basics of combat."

"In a 16-17 year old age group? You do basic combat?"

Internally I smiled, Carlisle had him there.

Mr. Ramsey sighed, "No. In the 16-17 year old age group they work on perfecting the skills of basic combat and they work on learning new, more advanced moves and styles of hand-to-hand combat."

Carlisle nodded and moved to walk around the room a bit, "Tell me, how often do you use Agent Oliver in missions?"

Mr. Hubbard looked through some paperwork, "Well she's still very young, but we have used her a few times this year already."

"But they were ones that you could've easily not used her in, correct?"

"Well of course, we can always use other Agents in missions, but sometimes we have Agents that we'd rather use instead of others."

"And what makes Agent Oliver so much better than any other Agent?"

Mr. Ramsey laughed, "Dr. Cullen that's a ridiculous question. Agent Oliver learns so much faster than other Agents her age. Her skills are twice as good as her peers. And she has her gifts which have proven very useful."

"But why use her, a younger Agent, versus an older and more experienced Agent?"

"To test her capabilities. We've developed a new machine, Dr. Cullen. Of course we have to test it."

"So she's just a new toy for you to play with. Forget her well-being, lets just test the hell out of it." Carlisle raised his voice. He was right when he said he'd lose his cool.

Ms. Marshall glared sternly at Carlisle, "Her parents knew exactly what was going to happen with her when they signed that paperwork."

"Speaking of that, that was some pretty fantastic negotiation you had. 'We'll give your daughter the ability to live, but you have to let us test her. Oh and by the way, you'll never see her again.' Some great deal, eh?"

I tried so hard not to smile, but if I didn't smile I'd laugh. Carlisle may have been frustrated, but his impression of whoever negotiated that deal was hilarious.

"Like I said, they knew what they were getting into when they signed the deal."

"So you think that keeping her from her parents is a good thing? There are multiple studies that say that keeping a child away from one or both parents, with no parental figure to replace them leads to the child struggling to form relationships as an adult."

"We allow our Agents to visit their parents when they are sixteen years of age." Mr. Grangell informed him.

"It doesn't matter. They're still lacking years of precious contact," Carlisle turned to face me, "Agent Oliver, do you remember what your parents look like?"

My face scrunched up in thought as I tried to remember what my parents looked like. I'd always had an image in my head, but I never questioned whether or not it was what they actually looked like. Then, after a few moments I remembered where I'd gotten the image from. That magazine from the older Agent. I shook my head, "No...I don't..."

I glanced up at him before looking down at my hands. How could I forget my own parents?

"She doesn't know the whole story." Mr. Hubbard said quietly. His lowered tone made my head snap up. What didn't they want me to hear?

"At your demand." Carlisle reminded him.

It was quiet for a few minutes, all of them taking in the information that had been presented. I looked over at Carlisle, wondering if he had anymore information to present. It appeared that he didn't, but why wasn't the panel discussing anything? Didn't they need to talk in private now?

"Four percent? That was the drop in growth rate? Are you sure that's because of fatigue?" Mr. Ramsey clarified leaning forward in his chair.

Carlisle nodded, "Yes. If you look at the chart of vitals I gave Mr. Hubbard, one chart for every month of observation, you'll see that the performance rate increases once a month, and then decreases again in the days following until it spikes again the next month. Also on those charts, I've marked the day that I came to visit Agent Oliver, also shown on the top of every chart because it records the days I pull information from the machine. You'll also notice that the day overall performance and function of her body increases occurs the day after I visit. The day after she gets over 15 hours of rest, counting the time she sleeps the night before."

Silence filled the room again. All five members of the panel were looking over the charts Carlisle had given them. Carlisle turned to look at me and gave me a smile. I smiled back, but my heart wasn't in it. I was still pondering how I could forget my mother. What kind of child forgets her parents?

"I think we should discuss a decision," Mr. Hubbard announced, "we'll be back out as soon as we've decided. Please wait here for our return."

All five members got up and went into a little door behind where Mr. Hubbard had sat. Mr. Hubbard carried the paperwork with him as he left.

Carlisle sighed and sat down next to me in the chair. He rubbed his face with his hands, clearly stressed out. I wished I could do something to make him less worried, but I was just as nervous.

"How are you?" He asked, turning his attention on me. I couldn't help but be confused and awed at him. My eyebrows pulled down in confusion as I thought about this. He had just done a half hour worth of arguing and worrying while I sat here, but yet he was concerned with how I was?

Carlisle reciprocated the change in my face, "What's wrong?"

"You're asking how I am?"

"Of course. Why not?"

I shrugged, "You did all the work. I just sat here."

He smiled at me and chuckled like I'd said something funny, "That doesn't mean anything. How are you?"

"I'm fine, I guess."

"You guess?"

My face fell, "I keep thinking about my parents."

Carlisle's face changed again, becoming more concerned. His eyes turned soft; sad almost, "I'm sorry I brought that up. I didn't want to use anything that might've caused pain to you. It was a spur of the moment decision. I should've thought that through better. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter. I'll forget soon again anyway."

"That's not true. You'll be able to see them soon."

I sighed and fiddled with my hands, "I don't think they're going to let me out Carlisle."

"Hey," Carlisle took my hands, "positive remember? Be positive."

"Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I should be let out."

"There are many other reasons why you should be let out. Look at the other health effects this has. Your growth rate is decreasing, your social development will suffer from lack of seeing your parents, they're burning you out. Being burned out like this could cause serious complications with your brain. It's taking in information so fast what if it were to slow down? What if it were unable to keep up? It's a computer. Sometimes when computers have to process too much information at one time they freeze, they lock up. What if that were to happen to your brain? What would become of you?"

"You didn't tell them that."

Carlisle smiled, "It's in the paperwork. I've been measuring the temperature of your brain. It's increased 1% in four years."

"That's not that much."

"It's very significant for something so fragile."

"If my brain is so fragile why do they let me fight?"

He shook his head, "I'm not going to answer that question."

I rose my eyebrow, "Why not?"

"I'm just not. I would be very impolite if I answered that question."

The door behind the panel desk opened and all five panel members took their seats. I looked over at Carlisle. This was it. This was the time I'd been waiting for for the past three days. I felt my heart rate increase until it was racing in my chest. Every second that went by made it beat faster.

Carlisle stood up and I let out a shaky breath. I clasped my hands together and hoped with every fiber of my being that they'd let me out.

"We've come to a decision," Mr. Hubbard told us. Obviously. That's why they came back out, "we've decided that Agent Oliver will not be released from the Agency. Instead, we will converse with her trainers and modify her training schedule to meet new health standards that we will set for her. Thank you both for bringing this to our attention. That is all, you're free to go."

"No." I whispered staring at Mr. Hubbard.

"What about her social development?" Carlisle demanded.

"That is all." Mr. Hubbard repeated as he and the other members stood up.

"What standards are you setting? I wish to be apart of your decision in what standards you decide to set for her," Carlisle rose his voice again as they began to disappear behind the door, "you keep pushing her like this and you'll destroy her! Do you not care about her well-being?"

"We do care about her well-being, Dr. Cullen. That is why we will converse with doctors and set health standards for her to ensure that she remains as healthy as any other child."

Carlisle scoffed, "Doctors whom you pay to tell you that there's nothing wrong with her? Doctors that you choose who'll agree with whatever you tell them to agree with, right?"

"We have plenty of trained staff, Dr. Cullen. Don't worry about that. You're free to go."

Mr. Hubbard shut the door behind him and we were alone. My world, my very small world, came crashing down on me. There was no release, there was no deal, there was no escape. But that wasn't even the worst part.

"They're never going to let me see you again are they?" I asked Carlisle, tears forming in my eyes as I spoke.

He closed his eyes and sighed, "I don't know."

"Are you going to appeal it?"

"Well, we must wait at least two weeks before we're allowed to appeal. But with the 'new health standards' that they're supposedly going to put in place I think the only way to get them to overturn their decision would be to prove that their health standards are not working and that you're still at risk for health issues. However, I'm not able to prove that if I never see you again."

"So basically I'm stuck here?"

"No," Carlisle shook his head. Determination flooded his face, "no. I'm not going to let that happen. I'll find a way to turn this over."

"How?"

"Don't you worry my dear. Don't you worry."

Carlisle gathered up his things and walked with me out the door of the panel room. A guard was waiting outside the door to take me away.

Carlisle gave me a tight hug, "Don't worry. I'm going to fix this."

The guard pulled on my arm and began leading me away from Carlisle. I stared at his face until he was completely out of view. I may have forgotten my parents, but I would never forget Carlisle. I'd make sure of it.

I was forced to go back to my training session and continue my day like normal. It was almost nine thirty by the time I got there. I hadn't realized we'd been in there for so long.

Most of the other Agents gave me a funny look when I came into the classroom. We had 'school' from 8:30 to noon. At noon we were allowed lunch.

I had an extremely hard time focusing in class. The mornings events kept replaying in my brain over and over again.

Lunch was awkward that day. My friends could tell something was off. Finally Agent Thomas asked what was wrong and I retold my story about trying to get out of the Agency.

"You tried to get out of the Agency? You can do that?" Agent Thompson asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, but it's really hard. Carlisle had all these medical reasons why I should be let out and they still didn't let me out. Apparently being in here and not seeing our parents is really bad for our social development. Also, being worked for eleven hours a day causes really bad fatigue which leads to us burning out and being really tired all the time."

"Being worked to hard is a thing? But the Agency always says that you can never work to hard." Agent Ryann shook her head. I couldn't blame her for her confusion. I'd never heard of these things until today either.

Two days passed and I'd had yet to hear whether I'd be able to see Carlisle or not yet. I'd considered asking someone during lunch when I finished eating, but I wasn't sure who to ask.

Saturday morning, during strength training, I saw the man I'd been waiting to see.

I immediately dropped my weights and ran to him, hugging him, "Carlisle! You came back!"

My weight training instructor, Agent Young came over to investigate.

"What are you doing?" He asked Carlisle.

"I came to see Agent Oliver."

"Do you have your approval paperwork?"

Carlisle frowned, "Approval paperwork?"

"To visit an Agent you must get approval from the Director."

"When did this come into place? Thursday?"

Agent Young nodded, "Yes, sir. Thursday night the Director made the change."

Carlisle sighed, "Of course he did."

"It's because of our meeting wasn't it, Carlisle?"

He nodded at me sadly, "Yes, it was."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Cullen but if you don't have paperwork you have to leave." Agent Young looked around nervously like he was being watched. Perhaps Mr. Hubbard was watching him.

"Of course. I'd hate to cause trouble," Carlisle bent down and hugged me again, "I'll fill out some paperwork tonight. Hopefully I should be able to see you Monday."

"Yeah right," I scoffed, "Carlisle he's never going to let me see you again."

He took my hands, as he'd done in the panel room, "positive remember? Monday."

"If you say so."

Carlisle squeezed my hands and nodded to Agent Young before leaving the room. I sighed and went back to my weights.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all came and went. The secretary never called me to go visit Carlisle.

Thursday during lunch I decided to take matters into my own hands. After I'd finished eating my lunch I told the guard that I needed to use the restroom. As soon as I was out of sight I sprinted for the elevator and went straight to level two. Once the elevator opened the door I went room to room looking for the Directors office.

I found the sign that said 'Mr. David Hubbard, Director of the Agency' and knocked on the door.

A few moments later Mr. Hubbard opened the door. His head moved back slightly in surprise, "Agent Oliver. What are you doing here?"

"I've come to speak with you, sir." I informed him in my best grown up voice.

"You're supposed to be at lunch."

I pushed past him and stepped into his office, "I finished early."

His office was painted a light brown dirt color. He had a shiny red-brown colored wooden desk with a big leather brown chair behind it. In front of it were two smaller dark red cloth chairs. To my surprise, Carlisle sat in one of them.

I smiled at him widely, "Carlisle."

"What are you doing here?" He asked me. He too looked surprised that I was here.

"Well, you said that maybe you'd get to see me Monday and today is Thursday so I thought I'd come ask Mr. Hubbard why I haven't gotten to see you yet."

Carlisle nodded, "Really? That's funny, that's exactly why I'm here."

I sat in the chair next to Carlisle and stared at Mr. Hubbard who was still standing by the open door.

"Turn the back of your head towards me please." Carlisle told me. I did as he asked and watched Mr. Hubbard close the door and make his way towards his desk.

"What are you doing?" I questioned Carlisle. It felt like he was pulling on something in my head.

"Oh I'm just checking your vitals and energy levels. I want to see how those new health standards are working for you."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. I thought about informing Carlisle that there hasn't been any new health standards, but the tone of his voice hinted that he already knew that.

"We've been unable to meet to discuss new health standards yet, Dr. Cullen." Mr. Hubbard told him as he sat down across from us.

"I see that. Her energy levels still look rather poor. Even worse than the last time I pulled them in fact."

I wasn't surprised at that. Ever since the meeting I hadn't been sleeping well.

"How are the rest of them?" I asked.

"Still the same, your performance has dropped lower than normal the past few days. You're not being worked harder are you?"

Mr. Hubbard interjected, "Dr. Cullen I can tell you-"

"I wasn't asking you," Carlisle cut him off, "Agent Oliver, you are not being worked harder are you?"

"No," I shook my head.

"Any idea why your levels are down?"

I sighed and turned to face him, but stared at my hands, "I haven't been sleeping very well."

"No, why not?"

Instead of answering I just glanced up at him.

"Why not?" He repeated.

"I've been thinking."

"So we have the opposite problem? Your brain isn't freezing, it's not shutting off."

"No, I don't think so. I've just been thinking about everything that's been going on."

Carlisle nodded, "The meeting?"

"And not being able to see you...everything."

"My fear. I didn't want this to damage you even more than you've already been damaged. So, Mr. Hubbard, as we were discussing earlier, what is the reason why I cannot see Agent Oliver?"

Mr. Hubbard placed his arms on the desk, his hands clasped together, "Dr. Cullen I can assure you it's strictly for security purposes. Not that you would do such a thing, but what if someone who's proposed such an idea to the panel were to take the Agent out of the Agency? Surely it could be attempted. Therefore, we put in place the visitors request form."

"Which I filled out last Saturday." Carlisle told him.

"I know."

"So you denied my request?"

"No, I saw the request but I'm sure you can imagine that as the Director of the Agency I have a lot to deal with. I didn't have time to process it."

I wasn't sure that I believed him or not. Something about the way he didn't give too many details...the way he smiled, how he didn't look directly at either of us. I glanced over at Carlisle. He nodded at Mr. Hubbard, but it was a slow nod as if he didn't quite believe the story either.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have that all processed by next Monday, correct?" Carlisle smiled at him.

"Possibly. We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes. We'll be in touch. Agent Oliver, I'm sure you'll need a pass for being late to target practice. I'll write one up for you." Mr. Hubbard pulled out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something on it before handing it to me.

"Thank you, sir." I hopped off the chair and followed Carlisle out of the room.

Once we were a little ways down the hall I asked Carlisle if he thought that Mr. Hubbard would actually get in touch with him.

Carlisle chuckled, "Well, my bet's on no. But I guess we'll see won't we."

We said our goodbyes and I made my way downstairs to the shooting range.

I was disappointed when Monday passed and I didn't get to see Carlisle. But really I couldn't say I was surprised at all. I never did hear about the new health standards either. I wondered when, or if, they were going to be put into place.

On Wednesday I considered going and talking to Mr. Hubbard again but I didn't figure the guard would let me after I technically broke the rules and snuck up there last week. So instead I stayed in the lunch room and didn't go talk to him.

"Agent Oliver please report to room 316A. Agent Oliver to room 316A." Thursday morning the Secretary called me. I wasn't sure what room 316A was, but I knew it was on level three because it started with a three. I also knew that it wasn't a basement level because there was no B after it.

Part of me hoped that Carlisle had come back for me but usually that was room 201A. I headed up on the elevator to level three and looked at each door as I walked past them, looking for 316A.

316A ended up being the Panel room and my heart lept for joy. Carlisle had appealed the case! I scanned my badge on the lock and the door clicked open. Carlisle and the panel were already inside, along with a guard and one other person who I didn't recognize.

"Agent Oliver," Carlisle greeted me, "there you are. Have a seat."

I sat down on the chair that I sat in when Carlisle had presented his original case.

"Now, as I was saying, you've had two weeks to implement new standard health requirements and you've seemingly failed to do so. The last time I checked Agent Oliver's levels, they were down considerably from when we'd last looked at them. Agent Oliver if you would please come here."

I got up and walked to Carlisle. Figuring he wished to check them again I faced away from him.

"Smart girl," Carlisle muttered as he poked at my head again. "Still down as low as they were last Thursday. A child cannot perform at the level you ask them to at these levels, wouldn't you agree Dr. Wilson?"

"I would." The man with short black hair agreed with Carlisle. He had dark forest green eyes and a square face with some stubble that made him look like a rough guy. Not to mention how tall he was. He was a good four to five inches taller than Carlisle and was pretty well built. Had I seen him not in uniform and without a badge I would never had guessed that he was a doctor. A police officer maybe, but never a doctor. I imagined he had a 'tough' name like Dennis or Rex.

Of course I was wrongfully stereotyping him based on his looks and as soon as I realized it I tried to imagine him within his profession, working on a little girl. He fit in very well with my picture then. I could see him smiling down at her, being very gentle as he stitched up a cut on her arm. He would talk to her about something else, perhaps about a stuffed animal she was holding, trying to distract her from what he was doing to her arm. I smiled at the thought.

"Agent Oliver," Carlisle tapped me on the arm, "you may sit down now."

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and moved to go sit down. My face felt hot from embarrassment and I was sure it was red. Hopefully Carlisle hadn't asked me too many times before I finally responded.

Dr. Wilson continued speaking, "I also believe that Agent Oliver is much to young to be fighting at the level you require her to be fighting at. She is nine years old?"

"Ten years old." Carlisle corrected him.

"My mistake. Either way a ten year old girl with a very fragile machine should not be fighting at such a high level. What if she were to hit her head?"

"I don't think we should exclude Agent Oliver from doing things that everyone else does." I looked up into the Panel and noticed yet another man sitting next to Mr. Hubbard. He had no name tag and I'd never seen him before. He was older than any other member of the Panel. I could tell by the way his skin was beginning to lose some of its elasticity. His hair was not gray, but a very pale sandy blond color. In the right lighting it could be almost a light grayish white. He wore a bright white, cleanly pressed uniform with many decorations on it which led me to believe that he was of some importance in the Agency.

Mr. Hubbard agreed with the man, "I don't think so either. Didn't you say the last time we met Dr. Cullen that it was bad for Agent Oliver to be separated from her peers?"

"He did say that." Mr. Ramsey chimed in.

"It is bad that we exclude Agent Oliver from her peers, but her peers are not fighting at the level that you have her fighting at. There are also many other children her age, her peers outside of the Agency, that do not fight at all." Carlisle countered looking straight at Mr. Hubbard as he spoke.

The man in white grabbed some papers from in front of Mr. Hubbard, "And you said that her levels have dropped lower than before since the last time you met with the Panel. Why is that?"

"It could be a variety of things. She told me that she had not been sleeping as well. She's also been very worried and very upset after meeting with the Panel. Add on the daily stresses of training and school work that she has. I believe the combination has led to the drop."

"And what would be your main reasoning for wanting Agent Oliver out of the Agency? You do know the deal that we'd made."

Carlisle nodded, "Yes I understand. That was not my intention. I have one reason as to why I believe that she should be let out of the Agency and that is her overall well-being. I believe that she'll be healthier and a lot happier."

"The Panel would like to talk to Dr. Cullen alone. Please remove Agent Oliver and Dr. Wilson from the room."

The guard that I'd seen when I came in ushered Dr. Wilson and myself outside. He shut the door behind us and stood in front of it so neither of us could go back in.

"Don't worry," Dr. Wilson squeezed my shoulder, "you have a very smart man helping you."

I looked up into his eyes and smiled. I could definitely see now that this man was a doctor.

It seemed like forever that Carlisle and the Panel were in the room talking. I paced the hallway walking back and forth like one of the guards we had on the outside of the Agency. Every few seconds I'd glance up at the clock and frown. It wasn't moving fast enough. A watched clock never turned, but I really didn't have anything to do except watch the clock.

The door buzzed and clicked. Then the guard opened it and motioned for us to go back inside. Finally!

Inside the room stood only Carlisle. The Panel was gone and so was the man with the white suit.

"Where'd they go?" I asked Carlisle looking around.

"They left." He replied simply.

I was deeply unsatisfied with the information, or lack thereof, that he provided, "Well, what happened?"

Carlisle smiled at me and bent down so he was at my level. Usually he only did this when there was bad news. My heart sunk.

"They want to do a test."

"What kind of test?"

"They want to take you out of the Agency briefly, for about a month or so. At the end of the month they want to pull your vitals and see if you've improved any."

My heart stopped sinking, the world quit spinning, I was being let out. It was only for a month, but I was being let out.

I flung myself into Carlisle's arms and hugged him as tightly as I could, trying my hardest not to cry, "Carlisle you're a miracle worker. I'm getting let out! They're going to let me out!"

"Briefly. Remember they just want to see if you'll do better out of the Agency. Of course I know you will, but they just need to be sure."

"It doesn't matter. I get to get out! I don't care if it's only for a month. A month is better than not at all!"

Carlisle held me for a long time, letting me calm down a little. I could see it now. I would be so happy at home playing with my parents and making new friends. Life would be so much better than being in the Agency. But there was one problem that I thought of.

"Carlisle?"

"Yes my dear?"

I paused for a moment, hoping with all my might, "will I get to see you when I'm out of the Agency? I'm going to be able to see you again aren't I?"

"Of course my dear! Who else would take your vitals," Carlisle pulled back so he could look me in the eyes, "don't worry about me dear. You'll see me again I'm sure of it."

"I hope so."

"I know so."

The very next morning a guard took me out to a shiny black car, with black windows. I didn't have anything to bring with me since all of my things belonged to the Agency. Before I went down to the car I was able to say goodbye to my friends, Agent Ryann, Agent Thomas, and Agent Thompson. I was conflicted on how to feel about saying goodbye. Hopefully I'd never be back to the Agency, which would be a good thing, but it would mean that I'd never get to see them again. That part was sad. I knew I'd miss them, however my desire to get out of the Agency outweighed the desire I had to see them.

Also before I went down to the car, I had to stop in Mr. Hubbard's office. It had to be one of the most nerve racking things I'd ever done at the Agency.

"Agent Oliver," Mr. Hubbard greeted me when I walked in the office, "please have a seat."

I did as I was told, not saying a word.

"Before we send you off into the world for a month, there's some things I need to explain to you. First of all, you won't be staying with your parents. For security reasons you'll be staying in a motel a few blocks away from your parents, just show the man your badge. You'll be allowed to visit your parents as often as you wish. You're also not restricted in who you can talk to. However, you're not allowed to tell anyone that you are a government agent and you're not allowed to talk about the Agency with anyone except your mother and Dr. Cullen should you see him. And even when talking to those people you're not allowed to talk to them about the Agency in front of others. It should be done in private if at all. At the end of the month your mother or someone else will bring you back to the Agency so we can discuss your plans with the Agency further. Until then have a nice trip and we look forward to seeing you again very very soon."

"Thank you, sir." I smiled at him as I hopped off the chair and headed out of his office as quickly as I could. The sooner I got out of there the sooner I could go home. Even if I wasn't really going home. Once I was out of the office a guard led me to the car.

I never realized how far the Agency was from my home until I rode there. Or maybe it was just my excitement making the trip seem longer than it was. Though I never really knew where my home was. It'd been so long since I'd been there I couldn't remember. I thought about asking the driver, but there was a wall of glass between us and I figured that meant he didn't want to be disturbed.

We pulled up to a light blue colored two story house with a huge yard. My heart fluttered. This was my home. A woman with mid-back length, medium blonde hair opened the door. She had on a blue button up shirt and white capris.

The driver opened my door and I sprinted to her, "Mom!"

She scooped me up into her gentle embrace, "Oh Alexandria. My sweet baby girl..."

I looked at her face and noticed that she looked very similar to me. She had a clear oval face, besides her freckles, thin pink lips, and a small rounded nose. However, she had green eyes rather than blue. Carlisle told me that I once had green eyes, but the pigment in them changed when they put the computer in my brain because they linked my eyesight to the computer so I could see better. The computer gave my eyes their bluish glow.

"There she is!" I peeked around my mother and saw who I assumed was my father.

He and I didn't look so similar. His face was rounder than mine and my mothers and his eyes were a hazelnut brown color, very similar to his hair which was more of a milk chocolate.

Both of my parents were thin, but you could tell both were very muscled. Especially my mother from her time in the Agency.

Neither of my parents looked like how I'd pictured them in the Agency. They didn't look anything like the two people in the magazine.

My father took me from my mother so he too could hug me.

Standing in our front door were three children, two boys and a girl. The girl looked to be the youngest out of the three. The tallest boy had very short light blond hair, while the shorter one's was more dirty blond.

"Let's go meet your siblings!" My mother exclaimed taking my father's hand and walking us over to them. Her words made me feel adopted into the family rather than born into it. I was sure she didn't mean to make me feel that way, but it was just her word choice that did it. I'd been delivered to their house and now I was going to be introduced to my new family.

But in a sense it was like I was being adopted. For nearly eight years the Agency and the children in it were my family. Now I was being brought to my new family.

My dad put me down on the steps leading up to the door, allowing us to introduce ourselves.

I had to do a double take as I glanced at the girl. She looked exactly like me.

"Hi, I'm Emma." She introduced herself with a big grin.

"I'm Alexandria." I whispered still rudely staring at my sister.

Emma laughed, "I know who you are. Mom and Dad said that even though we knew who you were, you wouldn't know who we were."

"We look a lot alike."

"You're identical twins," My mother told me crouching down next to me, "that's why you look so similar. You were both born on the same day, but you were born two minutes earlier."

Twins. I remembered learning about them in the Agency. The two Agent Peterson's where twins. It was super hard to tell them apart. The only way you could tell was because one had a scar along their bottom right jaw and the other didn't.

"This is Matthew and Zachary," My mom drew me out of my thoughts, pointing to each boy respectively, "Matthew is 15 and Zachary is 13."

Matthew was the taller one, but that didn't surprise me since he was older.

"Do you drive too?" I asked them both. In the Agency, Agents could get their temporary license at 13. Then, if they passed a series of tests, they could get their specialized license. I had gotten my specialized license three months prior. The Agency made an exception for me since I was much more advanced.

Both boys looked at me like I was crazy.

"No, no honey. Out here you have to be 16 to drive."

I nodded in understanding. Great, now I looked like an idiot. And to make matters worse, my license was junk out here.

My parents gave me a tour of the house and showed me which room used to be mine, now known as Emma's room. They also showed me some of the things they had bought me, such as clothes and blankets, for my hotel room.

"Why won't they let me stay with you?" I asked my mother when we were alone, folding up my blanket to take with me. The Agency had also given me a bag to take with me. I wasn't sure what it had in it, but it was slightly heavy.

My mother shrugged, "Something about wanting you to be independent and strong."

I frowned. That was stupid. I was already independent. You had to be independent if you wanted to survive at the Agency.

"I wish I could stay with you instead." I told her honestly. It felt like I was leaving her and I was never going to see her. Of course I knew I'd see her again the next day, but I just got her back. It only made sense that I'd want to stay with her as much as possible.

She smiled at me, "I do too, honey. I do too."

My parents made dinner together while Emma and I sat and talked in her room. I dug through some photo albums I found in the living room as we did so.

I saw so many memories; so many I didn't remember. My mom, me, and Emma in the hospital right after I was born. Me and Emma standing up, presumably for the first time, grinning like fools. Emma and I at our first birthday party opening up gifts. Then there was the accident. Me laying in a hospital bed, all hooked up to wires. Carlisle holding my hand as I lay there, this time my head was wrapped in gauze. Me, still laying in the hospital bed, with my eyes open. My eyes were blue. Carlisle holding his hand up in the air while I reached for it with my right arm. The last one was one of me, Emma, Matthew, Zach, and my parents sitting on my hospital bed smiling. I was no longer hooked up to machines, I was no longer held down. I was sitting on my mothers lap smiling. But there was something in the background that stood out. A black duffle bag. An Agency duffle bag. It must have been our last family picture before I went to the Agency.

My heart ached and stomach got an empty feeling at the sight. So many things I never remembered. So many years I lost. Thankfully I would get to make up some of that time this month and, hopefully, many more months.

For dinner my mother made spaghetti. I'd had spaghetti before, but never like this. The sauce was homemade, a recipe from my grandmother, and I loved every flavorful bite. Never would I take advantage of a homemade meal. It was so much better than the slimy noodles and red water we got at the Agency.

After dinner I gathered my things and walked down the block to my hotel that I was supposed to be staying at. Thankfully it was close to my house so I could easily go back and forth.

I pulled open the door and stepped inside the cool building. The first thing I noticed was the couches to the left of the door. They were a deep reddish orange that really brought out the red in the stain on the hardwood floors and the dark red on the walls. The orange of the couch really broke up the red, as did the gold wooden table that the couches were centered around. The place was modern, but had a really old and rustic feel to it. Perhaps it was due to the wooden furniture, or maybe the landscape paintings of forests, mountains, and animals. I wasn't sure.

"Shut up, Emmett." The sound made my eyes focus on the man and boy behind the counter. The man was older, probably in his middle 60's. He was very tall. The boy, who I assumed was Emmett, was rather young, looking to be a couple years older than me. Both had raven black hair and baby blue eyes. The younger boy was staring at me, not looking away. It was making me nervous.

"Hello ma'am. What can I do for ya?" The older man asked me, turning his attention from Emmett to me.

Smiling at the man, I finished my journey to the counter, "Hello. I need a room please."

"Little young for a room don't ya think?" He rose an eyebrow at me and put an arm on the counter so he could see me better.

I pulled out my badge and placed it in front of him. His blue eyes narrowed so he could see what it was then relaxed, "Oh yes. I was told you'd be coming."

He disappeared into the back room.

Emmett stopped staring at me to watch him leave, then focused on me again, "Hi. I'm Emmett."

"Alexandria." I sent a smile his way. He mimicked my facial expression, bringing out his dimples.

"Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before. You kind of look familiar...I can't think of where I've seen you though."

I nodded, "I'm pretty sure you haven't seen me. I just got here today."

"Where are you from?" I knew he was just trying to keep the conversation going, but I was becoming fearful of his questions. How did I answer this? I couldn't tell him I came from the Agency.

"I don't remember," I lied to him, "I wasn't there long."

Emmett nodded, pausing briefly before continuing on, "Where are your parents?"

"Emmett," The older man scolded him, "leave the poor girl alone. Here you are, dear. Emmett why don't you make yourself useful and carry the girl's bag."

I took the key to my room from the man and grabbed my badge off the counter. Emmett came around and picked up my suitcase.

"Room 3, Emmett." The man told him.

Emmett led me down the hallway to the left of the counter.

"Is that your grandpa?" I asked him once we were out of earshot.

His laughter at my question made me nervous, "No. That's my dad."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I felt my face get hot. What an idiot.

"It's okay. I was an unexpected baby. My youngest older brother is seven years older than me."

"That's a big gap. How old are you?"

"Twelve."

I rose my eyes in surprise, "You're only two years older than me? You look as old as my thirteen year old brother."

"I come from a tall family, as you could probably tell," Emmett looked back and smiled at me, "here's your room."

I opened the door with the key and stepped inside. Emmett followed me in and set my suitcase on the floor next to the door.

"If you need anything I'm right up at the front desk or if you go down the hall and take a right when you get to the lobby, our house if you will, is the door straight ahead that says 'Management' on it."

"Thank you." I smiled at him as he left me alone to view the space.

It was a nice room. Much bigger than I'd expected. The kitchen was to the left of the door, the living room straight ahead, with a small dinner table in the far back left corner. It was all very open. Past the couch and TV of the living room were two doors, the very first one led to a bathroom and the second was a bedroom with a big bed. I guessed it was a full sized one. The bedroom had it's own door to the bathroom and a nice sized closet.

I wasn't sure why they put a closet that big in a hotel room, but I supposed it was handy since I was staying for a month. Were there other people who stayed as long as I did? As far as I could tell this was a pretty small town.

After a quick shower I decided to head to bed. It'd been a long and eventful day and I found myself tired after my relaxing shower.

Sleep didn't stay with me long enough. I woke up in the morning to someone knocking on my door. The clock said it was almost eight, but I swore it was lying.

I hopped out of bed and half stumbled into the living room to open the door.

"Hi," Emmett's blue eyes met mine, "I'm sorry, I didn't wake you did I?"

Startled and slightly - no _very_ \- embarrassed, I quickly ran my fingers though my hair, "No! I got up a little bit ago I just haven't had the time to shower yet I've been digging through my clothes trying to unpack a little."

"Oh I see."

"Um, is there something you..." I gestured to the room and myself not quite sure what he wanted.

"Oh! I-I was just seeing if you wanted to go get some breakfast."

Well that wasn't what I was expecting and my face showed it. Of course I asked a stupid and rude question being a little groggy still, "With you?"

"Yeah...I mean if you don't want to I get it. I know we just met yesterday and all..."

"No, no I'd love to go," I quickly tried to cover myself, "sorry, I just didn't know if you meant just us or with a group of your friends or what."

Emmett nodded, clearly pleased that I wasn't appalled by the idea of eating with him, "I see. Nope just me and you."

"All right, awesome! Yeah, it'd be great to know someone here. Um, well I'll go shower and get ready and then I'll meet you in the lobby when I'm ready?"

"Yeah that sounds great! I'll let you get ready." Emmett smiled a sweet dimpled little smile and headed down the hall.

I shut the door behind him, rubbed my face, and ran to the shower. I didn't want Emmett to be waiting too long so I tried to be as fast and thorough as I could. After getting dressed I wildly brushed my hair and teeth before grabbing some money and heading out the door. I really hoped this was a casual breakfast and if not then he'd just have to deal with my shorts and t-shirt.

Emmett was sitting on the couch in the lobby when I walked in. When he saw me he seemed relieved, like he expected me not to show up.

"There you are."

I exhaled nervously, "Sorry it took so long. My hair is untameable."

"It looks good." He complimented me, looking at my wet wavy dark brown hair. My shirt was beginning to feel wet from my hair. That was one thing I didn't think of; wet spots.

"Thanks. Where are we going for breakfast?"

"Well I thought I'd let you pick. We can either go to the Waffle House or Jamie's, which is just a little town diner. Well, they're both just little diners but the Waffle House is mainly breakfast."

I weighed my options briefly, "How about the Waffle House. I kind of want a waffle."

"Sounds good to me. Hope you don't mind walking, it's just a few blocks this way."

Sighing dramatically, I gave him a hard time hoping he understood sarcasm, "Oh my gosh, Emmett. Really? We have to walk? Can't you drive yet?"

"I would but I'm only twelve and we have to go into town," He shook his head at me and huffed, "you'll just have to deal with it."

"Carry me." I raised my arms up and flopped them down to my side.

"Ok." Emmett stopped for a second and scooped me up in his arms bridal style.

I laughed in surprise, "You know I was kidding right?"

Emmett nodded, "Yeah I know I just figured, 'eh why not?'"

Leaning my head against his chest, I yawned, "This is actually really comfortable. I could fall asleep."

"We don't have to get breakfast if you don't want to. I can take you back and let you sleep."

"No, I want to go to breakfast with you."

"Good I'm glad to hear it."

Emmett didn't put me down until we were just outside of the restaurant. He opened up the door for me and followed me inside.

"Emmett McCarty! Been a long time since I've seen you in here! How's your family?" The hostess greeted Emmett cheerfully. Clearly she thought highly of Emmett.

"They're doing good, thank you. How's your mom been? She doing better?"

The hostess nodded, her dark brown curls bouncing, "Much better. They moved to her to assisted living and she loves it. I'll tell her you were asking about her. Who's this?"

Emmett smiled at me and introduced us, "This is Alexandria. She's a friend of mine. This is Tiffany. Her family and my family are really close."

Tiffany scoffed, "Which families around here aren't close? It's nice to meet ya honey, let me get you two set up with a table."

We followed her to our booth and sat down. The place was busy, but being that it was breakfast time I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Still it was crazy to see so many people here for a small town.

"Sarah will be right with you guys. Tell your momma I said hi, Emmett." Tiffany told us as she set down our menus and walked away.

Emmett nodded, "Will do."

"She seems nice," I commented watching her walk away. She seemed so sincere and compassionate towards others.

"Tiffany's a nice lady. Her mom had a stroke a few months ago so I think it's kind of hitting her hard. She's seemed to really lighten up and not take time for granted as much."

"Stuff will do that to people." Really I had no idea if things really changed people in that way but I assumed they did. An event changed Tiffany so events probably changed others too.

Emmett seemed to agree, "That they do."

Breakfast turned out surprisingly better than I'd thought. I was afraid it'd be awkward and full of questions but thankfully it was full of laughter and meaningless conversation. Emmett was so light-hearted and fun. I got the impression that he was one of those people who liked to live life to the fullest and always have a good time. He could probably find the fun in anything. Maybe he could show me how to have fun.

When our food came my eyes bugged at the amount of food on my plate. Portions were not that large in the Agency. There was no way anyone would finish all that food.

Emmett must've heard my inner monologue because he showed me that someone could in fact finish all that food.

I stared at his empty plate and then looked at him.

"What?" He asked, noticing my surprise.

"Where did you put all of that?"

He laughed at me and then shrugged, "I stuffed some under the table."

"You must've. Holy crap."

Emmett paid for breakfast, but not without some heavy disapproval and warning glances from me. It wasn't fair of him to pay for my food. Why would he? He didn't eat it.

After his criminal act we walked back to the hotel. I had to get home so I could see my mom and dad. Hopefully they weren't too worried about me.

"So what now?" Emmett asked as we walked. I hadn't told him my plans of going home.

"I gotta go visit someone."

"Who?"

My brain froze as I tried to think of my parents real names. What were they? How could I not know?!

"Umm, well...I-I don't really know their names."

Emmett laughed at me, "You're going to go visit someone you don't know?"

"I know them. I just can't remember their names."

"What do they look like? I know everyone in town."

I scoffed. How could he know everyone? Sure, Gatlinburg was a small town, but not that small. I decided to try him anyway, "Well, the woman has blonde hair and green eyes. She's kind of tall, probably about 5' 6". The man is maybe 5' 9" with brown hair and brown eyes. They have three kids, Matthew, Zachary, and Emma."

"Bethany and Scott Oliver," Emmett stated proudly, "they live a few blocks away from the hotel. Word on the street is that they have a fourth kid. A daughter. She's Emma's..."

Emmett stopped walking and stared at me.

I rose my eyebrow at him, wondering what his problem was, "What's the matter?"

"Are you Emma's twin sister? Oh my God! How did I not see it before! You're Alexandria Oliver! You're Emma's twin sister. Duh, stupid Emmett! I knew you looked familiar I just couldn't remember where I thought I'd seen you! Why aren't you staying with your parents? That's weird that you're living separately from them. My mom said that your mom was really excited that you were coming home and that you hadn't been home in a long time. Where were you living before you moved here?"

My fearful eyes met his. Our conversation had certainly taken a turn for the worst.

"What? What's wrong?"

I looked around and sighed, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone where I was."

Emmett frowned, "Why not? What's wrong with where you were?"

Afraid someone would hear, I shushed him, "I just can't ok! Let it drop."

I walked away from him, towards the hotel.

"Is your mom going to be mad at you if you talk about it?" He asked when he caught up with me. At least he kept his voice down.

"No, Emmett. Just leave it alone, ok? I don't want to talk about it."

Emmett shrugged, "Ok. So when are you going to go see your mom?"

"When we get back. I was gonna head over there right away."

"Oh ok. You're staying at the hotel again tonight right?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Would you be interested in hanging out with me for a while? I promise not to ask anymore questions."

A smile fell across my face, followed by laughter. I couldn't help but laugh, "You can ask questions, just not those questions."

Emmett mimicked my smile, "Alright, so is that a yes then?"

"Yes, Emmett. I'll come knock on your door when I get back."

"No need, I'm working the desk tonight. So even if you said no, you'd have to see me at least one more time."

"How are we going to hang out if you're working the desk?" I asked giving him a nudge. I was beginning to think Emmett didn't think things through very well.

He shook his head at me like I was missing something, "We have extra chairs. You're working with me tonight."

I widened my eyes. This couldn't be good. I wasn't sure why, but I saw this ending very poorly. Maybe it was just me.

We stopped in front of the hotel and continued talking, or in Emmett's case, pouting.

"What you don't like that idea? You don't have to..."

"Emmett I was kidding. I'll see you after I'm done."

Emmett smirked at me, "I knew you'd come around."

He went inside the hotel as I turned to head to my parents house. Hopefully they weren't worried. They had to be used to not seeing me right?

I was unsure whether I should knock on the door, but seeing as it was my parents house I just went right in.

"Alexandria?" My mother called me from the kitchen.

"Hi mom." I poked my head in and smiled. My mother was putting dishes in the dishwasher while my father sat at the table and read the newspaper.

"There you are! Did you just wake up? It's almost nine."

I shook my head, "No I went to breakfast."

"By yourself?" My father looked at me funny, as if it was a weird thing to do.

"No, I went with Emmett."

"Emmett?"

My mother wiped her hands on a dish towel, "Emmett McCarty?"

Taking a seat at the table, I nodded.

"He's a little old isn't he?" My dad set down his newspaper.

"He's just barely two years older than her. His birthday is in May," Mom explained to him, coming to sit as well. "how did you meet him?"

Why was there so many questions for such a simple task, "Emmett was behind the counter with his dad when I checked in. He carried my stuff to my room for me and introduced himself."

Dad nodded slowly, "The McCarty's are good people. Just make sure he's not making you do anything you don't want to."

"Scott!" My mom shot him a look like he said something bad.

My father didn't seem to understand what he said wrong, "What?"

"She's ten years old."

"And she's hanging out with a boy two years older than her, by herself."

"He's a good kid."

My father disagreed, "He's wild."

Wild? Emmett wasn't wild. He was funny and a little thoughtless at times, but not wild.

"Emmett's really nice." I told them both.

Dad scoffed at me, "All boys are really nice."

"Scott! She's ten years old!" My mother stressed.

I was beginning to regret my decision to tell them about breakfast with Emmett. What was my dad so afraid of? All we did was go to breakfast. What was so harmful about going to breakfast?

Someone knocked on the door, interrupting my parents arguing. I got up and went to the door.

"Carlisle!" I greeted him giving him a hug as he came in.

"How are you?" He asked as I released him.

I shrugged, "I'm good."

"Where are you parents?"

"In the kitchen arguing."

Carlisle frowned, "Arguing about what?"

"Me going to breakfast with a friend. My dad doesn't like it." I walked towards the kitchen. Carlisle followed me.

"Why not? What's the problem with that?"

"My friend's a boy."

Carlisle rose his eyebrow at me, "You didn't kiss him did you?"

My eyes widened at him, "Carlisle! He's a friend!"

"Things progress."

Mom stood up when she saw Carlisle, "Dr. Cullen."

Carlisle shook his head, "So formal."

She laughed and sat back down, "I try."

We both took a seat at the table. It was really awkward.

"She said you didn't approve of her breakfast buddy." Carlisle chuckled.

My dad shook his head, "He's two years older than her and she went with him by herself without telling anyone where she was going."

"Scott, this is Gatlinburg. Everyone in this town knows everyone else. Besides, Emmett is a very recognizable kid. He's huge and loud. I'm sure somebody would have noticed if he did something to her."

My father shook his head, "Exactly. He's a big kid and she's small. He could easily hurt her."

Carlisle smiled looking between them, "Well she's been training for seven and a half years. I think she'd be fine."

I giggled. Carlisle still seemed a little bitter with the Agency.

Mom laughed though, "See, she's fine."

"He's a big kid. Does she fight kids his size? He's nearly as tall as Matthew and they're three years apart. Matthew's 15, Emmett's 12." My dad looked at my mother.

"You can't blame him for that. He's got good genes. His whole family is tall and naturally muscled. All four of those boys look the same. All of them have blue eyes, black hair, dimples, and are tall and muscled."

Carlisle gave my mother a confused look, "Four of them?"

"Emmett and his three older brothers." She explained.

"Emmett has three older brothers," I asked her, "I knew he had at least two because he said that his youngest older brother is seven years older than him."

Carlisle looked surprised, "Seven years older?"

I nodded, "Emmett said he was an accident baby."

"He was," My mother confirmed, "his parents are in their early 60's, late 50's. Thomas is the oldest. He's got to be...well if Michael is seven years older than Emmett and Thomas is four years older than Michael...Thomas has to be eleven years older than Emmett. He's twenty-three. Then there's Bennett. Bennett is twenty-one. And then Michael is the second youngest. Mike is nineteen. Their poor mother. I've heard stories about those three. They were a handful growing up I hear."

"Oh I can imagine," Carlisle looked like he felt bad for their mom, "I've got three boys. For the most part they're good but when they fight...I'm glad we don't have many neighbors."

"I bet. I can't imagine. I thought two was bad," Mom laughed, "But according to their mother they all grew up right. Thomas is in the Army. Bennett works for some company up in Knoxville. His mom said he makes around fifty grand a year. He's got a wife and two kids. Mike's going to college for business management up at the University of Knoxville. I heard he's planning on coming back when he's done and taking over the hotel."

Carlisle smiled, "Well they sound like they have good heads on their shoulders. Hopefully Emmett will be the same way."

"I hope so. If not for his sake then for his parent's. I know his mother is worried about how he'll turn out. She's not convinced that she'll live long enough to make sure he stays in school. Apparently Bennett already volunteered to come and make sure he makes something of himself should anything happen to them."

"Good. I have a feeling that, God forbid, should something happen that boy will need a good push to do so. I think the only thing stopping him from screwing off now is his dad." My father chimed in. He made Emmett sound lazy and unmotivated. It certainly didn't sound like the Emmett I knew.

"I don't think so," I disagreed. "I think Emmett would be fine."

My dad gave me a funny look, as if I didn't know what I was talking about.

"I should probably get what I came here for, huh?" Carlisle looked at me and nudged me.

"What'd you come here for?" I asked.

He smiled, "Your brain."

I rolled my eyes and spun in my chair so the back of my head was towards him.

"Well, well, well," Carlisle whispered, "will you look at that."

"What?" My mother sounded concerned.

Carlisle showed her something on his laptop, "Incredible how that works isn't it?"

"What is it?" I looked between them. It was my head. I wanted to see.

He moved his laptop so I could see as well. There was a chart with a red line that was at the bottom of the chart, until yesterday, then the line was towards the middle. I had no idea what that meant, so I asked.

"It's your overall performance rate." Carlisle explained.

"So it increased right?"

He nodded, "Significantly so. I'm actually surprised how much it's went up. Today will be your first full day out in the world. You haven't even been out here twenty-four hours."

I grinned, "That means that I do better out here than in there. This will help our case."

"Absolutely. I told you you'd get to get out of there. Well, I suppose I should be getting home. My wife wanted to clean the house today."

My father scoffed, "Isn't that a reason to stay out?"

"No it's the reason why I have kids." Carlisle smiled and stood up.

I followed Carlisle and my mother out to the front door. My mom hugged Carlisle, "Thank you. I'll never be able to repay you for what you've done."

"I only did what was best for her," He told her with a smile, then he looked at me, "I shall see you possibly next Thursday. Maybe sooner than that, we'll see."

"Okay." I smiled at the thought of seeing him again. Never could I be tired of seeing Carlisle. His children had to be lucky children.

My mother turned and walked back to the kitchen just as Carlisle was about to close the door. He paused briefly and then opened it back up and pulled something out of his wallet.

"Here, take this just in case. Emmett sounds like a good kid, but you never know." Carlisle handed me a little white card and waved as he actually closed the door this time.

I looked down at the business card and saw it had his work and home number on it. Sometimes Carlisle's compassion towards others amazed me beyond belief. I had two parents, he didn't have to give me his number so I could bother him. That was why I never got tired of Carlisle's company. I tucked the business card in my pocket and went back to my mother.

My parents and I spent the day doing absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing, but just simple stuff like looking through old photos, baking cookies, and hanging out.

Emma was at a soccer training thing until three, Matthew was working, and Zach was over at a friends so it was just us three. It was pretty nice getting to spend some one-on-one time with my parents. I felt less awkward and more like their child as the day went on.

Dark gray clouds started rolling in and soon enough it was pouring rain outside. I hoped it would stop before I had to walk to the hotel. Walking home would be a very interesting experience otherwise.

My mom and I had just finished taking the last pan of cookies out of the oven when it was time to go get Emma so it worked out perfectly. Since it was raining so hard, my dad drove since he was apparently more experienced behind the wheel. At least in rain anyway.

Emma's soccer thing was inside a building, so she didn't have to stand outside in the rain. My mom got out and helped her put her things in the car.

"Hey twinny," Emma greeted me, "where are the boys?"

"Matthew's working and Zach's with Robert." My mom replied.

Emma shook her head, "Zach is always with Robert. Matthew says they have a bromance."

I'd never heard the word bromance before so I gave her a funny look, "What's that?"

"It's like when two guys who are friends, are attached at the hip and do everything together. Kind of like a romantic relationship, but the two are just friends."

"Bromance," I tested the word out to see how it sounded, "that's weird."

Emma giggled, "Trust me I know. But it's fitting when you see Zach and Rob together. Trust me."

"So do girls have a word for that too? Girlmance? Galmance?"

"I don't think so. I think you just call it hanging with your girlfriends."

I was glad Emma was there to teach me some of this fancy stuff. I would've never got in on my own.

"What do you do when you hang out with your girlfriends?" I asked her, truly curious. I'd never had friends on the outside. I assumed things were pretty different than in the Agency.

Emma began telling me all about slumber parties, prank calls, truth or dare, and gossip. It sounded so fun and exciting! I wanted to prank call someone so badly it hurt. Emma told me about a good refrigerator prank. My mom laughed because that was a joke she used when she was little. She began telling us about other jokes that her and her friends did. That was the last thing I remembered.

I woke up on the ground laying on the side of the road, half in the car and half out. The car was upside down. I could see my twin sister half out of her seat belt. Blood covered her arm.

I turned my head to the left and saw nothing but road. On my right there was framework of what used to be a house, but more importantly there was my mother's cell phone. I tried reaching into my left pocket for Carlisle's business card, but my left arm wouldn't move. I grabbed the soggy paper with my right hand and laid it on the ground so I could see it while I typed in the numbers. My hand shook while I typed. I couldn't make it stop. Finally the phone began ringing. I hoped he answered. What if he didn't? What if no one found me?

A woman's voice answered the phone, "Hello?"

"I need Carlisle please." I whispered, my voice was weak.

"Of course, just a moment."

The rain was still coming down onto my body. I could see blood under where I was laying. All of my knowledge about basic first aid flooded into my head, but there was nothing I could do with no hands. My heartbeat pounded in my ears until Carlisle's voice washed it away.

"Hello."

"Carlisle," I whimpered, trying my best not to cry.

"Alexandria," He sounded worried, "is everything ok?"

I took a deep breath, moaning as my ribs protested, "Carlisle, something happened."

"What happened? Where are you?"

"I don't know. I'm on a road."

I could hear a voice in the background but couldn't make out what it said, "You're on a road? What road? Where's your mother?"

"I don't know what road. It's curvy," I looked in the car for my mother and saw her back facing towards me, "mom's in the car, she's not facing me. She's not awake Carlisle. None of them are awake. The car's upside down. What if they're dead?"

"She's been in a car accident," I heard Carlisle whisper, "Alexandria I need you to be calm ok? I'm sure everyone's ok, they're probably just unconscious. I need you to focus and tell me what you see around you ok? Where were you coming from?"

I thought for moment, unable to remember where I'd been. "I don't know, something with Emma? She was somewhere and she's with us now so we must've went to get her. There's a house on my right, but just road and trees on my left. There's a sign on my left that says 'Speed limit 55.' There's framework of an old house, but there's no house just some concrete and one wooden wall. Carlisle my ribs hurt."

"It's okay, try not to focus on them. What else is around you?"

"Some water. It looks like a stream. But its on the side of the road. It's raining," I sighed my eyes heavy, "Carlisle I'm tired."

He rose his voice at me, "Alexandria Michelle Oliver don't you dare close your eyes. You keep talking to me ok? What else do you see?"

"Woods. Trees. I think this is a back road. But it's paved. There are metal things on the side near the curve. I think I see light."

"Don't go towards it. Stay with me now, ok?"

"No Carlisle, not heaven lights. Car lights. Like the ones on the front of cars to help them see. What if they run me over?"

Carlisle half scoffed, half laughed, "They won't run you over. If they stop you hand the phone to them ok? I need them to tell me where you are."

"Ok Carlisle," I watched the car disappear from my vision as it drove behind me I could hear a car door open and close.

A man's voice was talking, "Is anyone awake? Hello?"

"Hello." I mumbled back, still not seeing him.

The man peered over me, "Don't worry, I'm going to get help ok."

"I have a phone." I handed it to him.

The man started talking to Carlisle, telling him road names and miles and something else. Carlisle told me not to close my eyes, but that was only when I was on the phone with him so I figured I was ok now. Even if I tried to keep them open, I don't think they would've stayed open anyway.

When I woke up the next time I was in a bright room. I squinted my eyes trying to block out the light. I could see someone next to my bed, "Mom? Dad?"

The person took my hand, "No it's Emmett. How are ya doing?"

I blinked a few times trying to get Emmett's face to stop being blurry, "Your face is blurry."

"Probably just from you being asleep for so long. It'll clear up."

"Where's my mom?"

Emmett stared at me and didn't answer my question, "Maybe I should go get that doctor guy. He'll have a better idea of what's going on. I'll be right back."

He squeezed my hand and disappeared for a few moments.

"How are you feeling," Carlisle walked up to me and sat down in Emmett's chair.

"Where's my mom," I asked, completely ignoring his question.

Carlisle's smile disappeared, "You didn't answer my question."

"Where's my mom?"

"You know I've never lied to you and I don't plan on starting now."

Tears welled up in my eyes, "She's dead."

"I'm so sorry, my dear."

My breaths came faster and faster as I cried harder, "She's dead. My mom's dead. I didn't even get to know her for one full day and she left me. I didn't even get to hardly know her."

Emmett looked at the ground while Carlisle just held my hand, squeezing it ever so gently. Neither of them said anything. What was there to say?

"What about my dad?" I whispered, looking at Carlisle through blurry eyes. He shook his head. They were both gone. The two people I'd just spent all day with were gone. My parents were gone. I never even got to know them.

Emmett walked around and sat on the edge of my bed. He took my left hand and stroked it, trying to comfort me.

I wanted a hug. I needed a hug. I needed to bury my face into someones neck and just cry. Preferably it would be my mom or my dad, but that was no longer possible.

There was one more person I thought of; my twin sister Emma. I wondered how she was but I couldn't force the question out of my mouth for fear I'd lost her too. Carlisle and Emmett never shared the information either. I was afraid that this meant that she was gone.

Tears kept streaming down my face and I was unable to stop them. I don't think I'd ever cried so much as I did since I've been home. In the Agency there was no crying. You had to be strong and independent. I'd never felt so helpless as I did then. It felt like my life was falling apart around me.

Emmett scooted over and, after a quick glance at Carlisle, put his arms around me as best he could and hugged me tightly. Finally I was getting the hug I wanted. It wasn't from my dad, but I could try and pretend. Pretending was never my strong suit though. Deep down inside, I still knew it was Emmett. It was just Emmett.


End file.
